The misadventures of Mazu Risuto
by imabench
Summary: (Restarted) In a world of superpowers, heroes get all the love. Supports and side kicks? Not so much... And when you're a descendant of one of the most notorious super-villain crime families in the world, even getting into UA Academy on the hero track isn't enough to convince people of your true allegiance. (OC inserted into Class 1B) (Rated T for language)
1. Mazu Risuto: Intro

**Name** : Mazu Risuto  
 **Height** : 130 Centimeters (4 foot, 3 inches)  
 **Gender** : Male  
 **Orientation** : Asexual (doesn't know it yet)  
 **Hair Color** : Pale blue with purple tips  
 **Blood Type** : AB

 **Quirk** : Gateway/Portal

 **Description** : By using his right arm to make an exit portal, and his left arm to make an entrance portal, Mazu can move from one place to another place in an instant by moving through the portals.

Drawback 1) Limited range on how far a portal can be created. Must be within eyesight or no more than 30 yards away, whichever is shorter  
Drawback 2) Must create the exit portal first before creating the entrance portal  
Drawback 3) Portals collapse immediately after Mazu passes through them, or after 5 seconds if they are not used.  
Drawback 4) Jumping through too many portals can cause disorientation and vomiting, especially if the portals are not at ground level  
Drawback 5) Creation of too many portals in a small time frame can lead to physical exhaustion

 **Personal Statistics:**

Strength = 1/5  
Speed = 5/5  
Technique = 2/5  
Intelligence = 4/5  
Cooperativeness = 2/5

 **Total = 14/25**

* * *

My name is Mazu Risuto, and there are 3 rules I have lived the first 15 years of my life by:

 _#3 = When a person decides they hate me, there is no way to change their mind_

In every foster home I've been in since I was 8 years old, I go out of my way to be nice to people and not upset anyone when I don't have to. Even if it means inflicting great stress or even harm on myself. It is not easy for me to make friends, and through no fault of my own, people often wish I was dead the moment they learn my name. That is because I am a descendent of the universally feared and hated Risuto clan.

When quirks first began to appear, my ancestor (Dageki) and his brother (Typhoon) were two of the first people in all of Asia to be born with one, which they used for evil. Using his quirk called 'smite', Dageki could summon a lightning blast from any cloud overhead and beam it down kill a target of his desire, or blow up the building they tried to hide in. The bigger the cloud, the more powerful the blast. By combining his quirk with his brothers quirk, which was storm creation, the two of them killed off rival gangs in an instant, blew up entire police stations, picked off politicians, and slaughtered dozens of heroes who tried to stop them. Dageki's more lasting accomplishment however, was creating the worlds biggest criminal family in history.

All 12 of his sons and all 7 of his daughters were born with powerful quirks of their own, who were trained to maximize their powers for evil. Each became powerful and intimidating in their own right, who would then be married off to other people with powerful quirks under the 'Risuto' name. Within just 2 generations, villains with the name Risuto sprung up all over the world, and carved out a piece of territory for themselves. The Risuto name became so powerful that simply marrying into the family converted the entire bloodline of the spouse into Risuto's. Risuto's committed all kinds of crimes all over the world, ranging from legendary robberies and assassinations to international terrorism and the collapse of national governments.

When my great grandfather and his brother were finally killed, the rest of the Risuto family adopted a code that allowed them to survive. The first was that no Risuto may attack, harm, or undermine the agenda or well being of another Risuto. The second was that no Risuto could demand subjugation of another Risuto family branch. The third was that no member of the Risuto family could act as the head of the entire clan... This decentralization made the Risuto family very independent of each other, so that if one powerful Risuto was arrested or taken down, the rest of the clan was relatively unaffected by it, and another Risuto from the previous Risuto's own family would have the opportunity to step in and fill the vacancy.

In this new time period, the Risuto clan inflicted such calamity all around the world while remaining relatively underground that the family achieved boogeyman-level status. People told stories of monsters that were fantasy and folklore, but now had the Risuto name attached to them, making the name synonymous with evil and terror. When people learned that my last name was Risuto, and that I was a direct descendant from the Risuto clan who ended up in the foster care system after my father slaughtered my mother, people instantly developed a deep hatred of me and wished me dead.

I understood why they would hate me when they learned my name, and I did everything I could to prove that I wasn't like my family. If I defended bullied kids from their tormentors, they would tell me to piss off because they didn't want to be associated with me. If I told a girl that I thought her hair looked really pretty today, she would tell the foster parents she was scared I was going to rape them.

Nothing I did to try to win people's opinions ever worked, so after hundreds of failed attempts, free favors, and genuine compliments, I simply accepted that when a person hates me, they would continue to hate me no matter what.

.

.

 _#2 = When I can't make a decision, do what All Might would do_

Growing up in the foster care system, the foster families I was assigned to rarely had televisions only for children to use, and those that did never let me have a turn to decide what to watch because all of the other foster kids hated me. Sometimes I would not even be allowed to watch TV with others, even if I sat all the way in the back of the room away from everyone else. But the one thing I tried to watch as much as I could, that I would simply could not get enough of where I endured all kinds of abuse from others for not following their rules, was when the TV talked about or showed All Might.

All Might was God to me growing up. No burden was too big for him to overcome, no task too large for him to accomplish, no odds in a situation so bad he couldn't triumph. As someone who only ever experienced failure, watching a legend like All Might only ever succeed didn't fill me with jealousy or some type of envy. It gave me hope that maybe one day, I could overcome constant failure and accomplish something. That one day I would be able to help someone else and not have them tell me to kill myself...

That one day I could help people and give them hope, rather then always be seen as a villain and be hated.

So whenever I had to make a decision about what to do, I would ALWAYS ask myself what All Might would do. The only exception to that rule was if there was actual danger or risk involved, which is where Rule #1 kicks in:

.

.

 _#1 = At the first sign of danger, RUN, and don't ever look back_

While my dream was to always help people, I never believed I was capable of actually 'saving' anyone. All Might was strong, powerful, and could punch his way through any problem with a smile on his face. I on the other hand, at the age of 15, was 4 foot 3 and had the physical strength of a basic 9 year old white girl. If I ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with someone who genuinely wanted to kill me, quirkless or not, I had zero ability to be able to stop them. So I ran. If an adult three times my size so much as looked at me funny, I'd turn tail and use my quirk to get away from there as quickly as possible. I run until I am physically exhausted, too dizzy to stand, or too busy vomiting to keep going. Despite the universe doing almost everything it could to squash it, my will to live was indestructible. You would think that I would have thought about killing myself at least a few times since everyone always told me to do it, but staying alive was the one thing I always succeeded at doing. The one thing I could accomplish no matter what, as long as I tried as hard as I could, was staying alive. It was the one thing I always succeeded at, giving me at least one thing in common with All Might who succeeded at everything he tried.

I also run because I believe my family is after me.

I could never prove it, nor could explain why I believed it, but I had an incredible paranoia that one day a member of the Risuto Clan would find me and kill me. Maybe because I was a liability to the family somehow, maybe because in the foster care system I was no longer a true Risuto and could be killed off, or maybe because I started believing some of the 'boogeyman' stories of how vile and evil the Risuto family is. Would a Risuto kill off an exiled family member purely for sport? It certainly seemed possible from what I knew and heard about my family.

I've run away from foster homes dozens of times because I was convinced that a man who would show up on a street corner once a week was a secret Risuto agent who was spying on me. Other times I swore I saw something in the bushes at night, which was a serial killer of the Risuto clan who decided to target me. In the 7 years I was in the foster care system, the longest I ever stayed at a foster home before running away (or before the foster parents demanded I be moved somewhere else) was 5 months. I never felt safe at any foster home for longer than a few months, even if my foster parents actually loved me. It went against my natural instinct to entrust my lives into the hands of other people, since other people only ever wished to see me dead and told me about it all the time. My quirk was also useful enough that I didn't have to rely on someone else to stand up for me or fight for me if I found myself in a bad situation. With even just 2 or 3 uses of my quirk, combined with my natural speed that constantly running away helped develop, I could be what felt like a world away from anyone who wished me any harm in just under a minute. I didn't trust my life to other people, nor did I ever have to when I had fantastic ability to run away from a problem.

Then, everything changed when the Child Services adviser who was in charge of me recommended this place called 'UA Academy'.


	2. Entrance Exam: Epilogue 1 of 3

Location: Several blocks away from Child Services Agency Branch 12. Tokyo. 10:57 AM

* * *

 _LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO!_

I don't know why I always wait until the very last minute when I had to go somewhere. Probably some combination of procrastination and eagerness to use my quirk in non-dangerous scenarios. My foster parents never let me use it at home or around other kids out of fear that I might suck them all into an alternate dimension or find some way to kill everybody. On the streets of the city though, I was free to go apeshit with it.

And boy would I have to in order to make this meeting on time.

I darted along the sidewalk, dashing past people and annoyed businessmen before they could look up from their cellphones and see me coming. At traffic lights, I would throw the exit portal on the other side of the street and throw the entrance portal 6 feet in front of me, dashing through and immediately teleporting to the other side of the street. Pedestrians watched in surprise, an occasional car would slow down to look at what I was doing, and I kept running.

 _KEEP GOING KEEP GOING KEEP GOING KEEP GOING_

Making it 7 blocks and up 4 stories in 3 minutes was no easy feat, and after running as fast as i could nonstop for 10 minutes, even my legs were starting to get sore. I had been late to meetings before, sometimes by as long as 20 minutes. It wouldn't be the end of the world to take it easy and show up a little late.

 _But thats now what All Might would do. All Might would jump halfway across the city just to be somewhere on time! KEEP GOING!_

I dodge some some more pedestrians who don't see me coming until I'm sprinting right past them, and I portal my way across another intersection where early morning traffic is at a standstill. With just 2 minutes left, I could make out one of the skyscrapers at the corner of the street the Child Services branch was located on. 30 seconds later I made a hard left and darted down the sidewalk.

 _I might actually make it!_

I charge into the building and sprint past the lobby, the receptionist too tired to put up with my shit this early in the day. I skip past the elevator and go right for the stairs because it's faster. Portal at the top, portal in front of me. I dash through. Portal at the top, portal in front. I dash through again. Repeat 5 more times.

Slamming the door to floor 4 open, I burst out of the stairwell and sprint 4 doors down the hallway before grinding to a stop at the office of Shina Komena, the Child Services officer who has dealt with my case since I first entered the system.

"I MADE IT!" I throw my hands up in the entrance to her office like a champion who just set an Olympic record. Shina sat at her desk, unimpressed, knowing what was coming next.

She held up the small trash bin at the foot of her desk and held it in front of her... "Make it quick"

I took the trash bin and vomited. Profusely. Well, it wasn't a wet vomit that smelled like death, it was more of a dry heave where most of what came out were my lungs and several cheerios I hadn't quite digested yet. Catching my breath while dry heaving chewed up a couple of minutes, and Shina sat at her desk patiently waiting for me to finish, albeit with an incredibly annoyed expression on her face. She remembered very well the number of times she had to replace the carpet in her office because I had left an unremovable stain of stomach acid and bile at the entrance.

 **Shina** : "Glad you could make it on time"  
 **Me** : [Panting] "Almo-... Almost thought... Thought I would be late"  
 **Shina** : "Anything to report?"  
 **Me** : [Still panting] "Nothing new... [Exhales]... Foster parents don't like me, other kids pick on me... [Exhales] The usual"  
 **Shina** : "Can I have my trash bin back?"  
 **Me** : "Oh sure, here you go"

She furrowed her nose to block out the smell, and set the trash bin back at the side of her desk.

 **Shina** : "I know that it's not time for our quarterly review, but there is something I wanted to talk to you about"  
 **Me** : "You want me to join the army?"  
 **Shina** : "No"  
 **Me** : "You want me to join the navy?"  
 **Shina** : "No"  
 **Me** : "Oh so you want me to join the circus as an acrobat in order to make stable income that I could use to finally finance that moon-city idea I've had for a while"  
 **Shina** : "Maybe we'll explore that on a later visit..." The nice thing about Shina was that even though she was my adviser and a government employee unlucky enough to be assigned my case, I could be humorous with her and not have her question my motives or think I was playing some sort of mind trick on them. Foster parents and other foster kids only ever became suspicious or angry when I tried to joke with them, but not Shina.

 **Me** : "What's the occasion for our date then?"  
 **Shina** : "This is not a date"  
 **Me** : "You don't seem interested and I'm throwing up, it feels like a date"  
 **Shina** : "[Sighs] You are currently approaching your 16th birthday, which means you will be moved from a homeschooling education into either the public or private education system depending on what you choose. So, we are here to go over your options and see what you want to be"  
 **Me** : "I already told you what I wanted to do"  
 **Shina** : "Yes you've told me about the circus idea a couple times now"  
 **Me** : "It's a pretty solid plan right?"  
She wasn't amused.  
 **Shina** : "Mazu I want you to be honest with me... What is it you really want to do with your life? If you could be anything in the world, what would you want to be?"

While I had always worshipped All Might as a God, and many other pro heroes I would catch glimpses of on tv as lesser gods, I never actually told anyone I wanted to help people when I grow up. People would never believe that I, a member of the dreaded Risuto villain family, would ever want to use my powers for _good_. On top of that, none of my foster parents even cared to ask me what I wanted to be when I grow up, they just wanted me to get the hell out of their house more than anything

 **Me** : "Is 'water smeller' still not an actual job yet? I think I would be good at that"  
 **Shina** : "Mazu..."  
 **Me** : "I was also thinking about stapling leaves back onto trees during the fall, just to supplement my income"  
 **Shina** : "Mazu, you can be honest with me. As your adviser, it's my job to help you as much as I can in terms of your present situation and what you want to do in the future"

I looked off to the side of her office and fell quiet, avoiding eye contact. _How would she react when I told her I really just want to help people? Would she just think I was making another joke and ask me what I really want to do? Would she just laugh at me, or at the idea that a Risuto wants to do good in the world?_

I probably crossed a line earlier by suggesting this was a date... Might as well be honest with her rather then keep giving her a hard time for no reason.

 **Me** : "To be honest..." I trailed off  
 **Shina** : "Go ahead... You can tell me"  
 **Me** : [long pause] "To be honest, I just want to be able to help people"

Silence. I looked back at her after a while, she had the same expression on her face as always

 **Me** : "You don't believe me?"  
 **Shina** : "No I believe you, I was just wondering what exactly you mean"  
 **Me** : "What do you mean 'what do I mean'?"  
 **Shina** : "Well you want to help people. That's good. That's great actually. I'm proud of you that you want to do that... The thing is though that there are a lot of different ways you can help people... You could be a police officer, a doctor, a nurse, a hero, a-"  
 **Me** : "Pfft... I don't think I'd be able to help people as a hero... Heroes only ever charge into danger to save people, I've only ever run away from danger"  
 **Shina** : "You want to help people though. Thats good! Do you know how you want to do that though?"

She hit the problem dead on... I always have wanted to help people, but I never really figured out how I could do that. Every time I ever tried to think about it, my mind would just wander until I started thinking about how great All Might was for being amazing at everything. I wasn't particularly good at anything other than running, specifically away from something, so how could I help people in the most effective way possible? I had never figured that part out.

My silence gave her the answer.

 **Shina** : "If you want to help people, but just aren't sure how, there are schools that offer a bunch of different courses you could take. Pick a little of everything, whichever ones you like the most or are the best at would help you figure out the best way to help people"  
 **Me** : "Really?"  
 **Shina** : "Of course. That's what school is all about"  
 **Me** : "I thought school was more about learning things you're never going to use for the rest of your life? Like mitochondria, or a hypotenuse..."  
 **Shina** : "Its called 'general education' courses, where students who want to help people figure out the best way they can do that. You could get a lot of attention from even top level schools"

I laughed at that idea.

 **Me** : "What school would ever want me, mister 'Risuto-kid-with-rough-past-who-might-be-a-ticking-time-bomb' as a student at their school?"  
 **Shina** : "It wouldn't be easy, but your quirk might give you a chance"  
 **Me** : "Why would my quirk give me a chance?"  
 **Shina** : "From what I can tell, a warp quirk is pretty rare and can be useful. If you really want to help people and have a good quirk like yours, schools might look past your last name and consider accepting you"  
 **Me** : "I doubt other students at the school would feel the same way"  
 **Shina** : "It doesn't matter what they think. It only matters what you think"  
 **Me** : "That's such a lie... I've learned throughout my entire life that if a person thinks I'm evil that there's no way to convince them otherwise, especially when they learn my last name"

 **Shina** : "Do you think All Might would decide to not be a hero if people thought he couldn't be one?"

 **Me** : "Absolutely not! If people didn't think ALL MIGHT could be a hero, then they don't deserve to have him as one, and All Might would go ahead and be a hero regardless of what other people thought about hi- Oooooh I see what you're getting at now"  
 **Shina** : [Smiles] "If you genuinely want to help people as best as you can, it doesn't matter what other people think about you"  
 **Me** : "But All Might is _All Might_... And I'm just... Me"

Shina's smile receded. She was a good government worker who could keep tabs on dozens of foster children all over Tokyo, but giving pep talks and being a psychologist weren't exactly on her resume.

 **Shina** : "What if you just give it a shot? Schools have these open tryouts where people can sign up to get accepted, and a few of them start pretty soon. You could sign up for one, see how you do, and work on something from there based on how it goes"  
 **Me** : [Long pause] "If it doesn't work out could we reevaluate the circus idea?"  
 **Shina** : [Rolls eyes and snickers] "Sure. Why not"  
 **Me** : "Then I'm in! Which school has the soonest tryouts?"  
 **Shina** : "U.A. Academy"  
 **Me** : "Cool! Which school that I could ACTUALLY GET INTO has the soonest tryouts?"  
 **Shina** : "Mazu you should still give it a try..."  
 **Me** : "There's no way in HELL that I would be able to get into U.A. Academy... I might as well apply for Oxford or frickin MIT"  
 **Shina** : "Mazu you don't have to actually get accepted, you would only take the test to see how you do, and use that experience to prepare for the other exams"  
 **Me** : "Oh... Okay that actually makes more sense"  
 **Shina** : "If you do well you could get into U.A. anyways"  
 **Me** : "Okay now you're back to not making sense"  
 **Shina** : "The tryout is 5 days from now. I'll pull some strings and get you in if you want"

[Longest pause of the day]

 **Shina** : "What do you think?"  
 **Me** : "If this is the best way to find out how I can help people for a living..."  
 **Shina** : "I one-hundred-percent believe this is the best way... Take the test to get an idea of what other exams will be like, prepare for those exams when they come, get in to a school under a general studies program, and work things out from there about how you can help people the most..."

[Shorter pause since it seemed to make sense]

 **Me** : "Okay. I'll do it. Sign me up for the U.A. tryouts"


	3. Entrance Exam: Epilogue 2 of 3

The U.A. Tryouts were divided into 2 separate parts. The first part was the written exam, which I did not do particularly well on (thats what homeschooling by foster parents who hate your guts will get you). The second part was a practical exam, for which I did zero preparation for since I didn't know what to expect... A true formula for success I know... They gathered all the students attending the tryout into an auditorium, where some DJ the school hired walked us through the instructions. The basics were 'destroy robots for points', 'bigger robots more points', 'don't attack other students', and 'really big robots super bad, try to avoid'.

Needless to say, I was pretty damn screwed. _I signed up for this because I want to help people, not destroy robots!_ This test was clearly more designed for 'hero' students, not supports or people who just wanted to assist... Had I known that, I would have actually trained for the exam, rather then sleep all day and doodle costumes I would wear if I became someones sidekick.

 _Maybe I'll get super lucky and defeat a few of them..._

I stood outside a giant arena that had skyscrapers all over the place inside. I was put in Battle Center A, which was the first one out of six to eight battle centers you could be assigned to. Each battle center was basically a miniature version of a city inside a walled off area, which must have cost a hell of a lot of money to build. All the students waited outside the entrance, and then the test began without a countdown because _of course it would._

Everyone charged in after getting a nice head start in front of me, and the slaughter began.

* * *

 _Small robots are one point, medium robots are two points, large robots 3 points. Biggest robots bad, avoid biggest robots._

I charge into the battlefield after almost everyone else enters without a clue of what to do... I mean, I knew what to do, I just didn't have a damn clue HOW to do it. How do I destroy killer robots when all I've ever done is run away from a fight?

 _It didn't matter. I'm here, so I might as well try my best... It's what All Might would do._

Everyone else makes their way more towards the middle of the arena looking for action. My chances were best if I am away from everyone else, so I peel off to the left where I thought more opportunities would lie. Using my natural speed, I whip across several blocks, I see the carcasses of robots already destroyed by other students all over the place.

 _Jesus, some people must have killed like 10-15 robots already, and the test only just started!_

 _Time to get a vantage point..._

I run a few more blocks then come to a stop, looking up at the buildings all around me. I pick out one that looked the easiest to scale, a 5 or 6 story building that had fire exit stairs on its side, making it easy to warp-jump my way up the side... I run over and go through the motions. Right hand straight up, portal opens halfway up the building, left hand straight out, portal opens right in front of me. I walk through, and I'm halfway up, standing on the fire exit stairs... Right hand up again, left hand in front of me. Walk through the portal, and now I'm on the roof... 5 seconds flat, and no nauseousness.

I run to the edge of the building and look around. All kinds of hell was taking place more towards the middle of the arena, while areas closer to the outer walls were quieter. If I used my warp to jump from rooftop to rooftop, I might be able to find a few robots other people missed!

The building next to me was slightly taller than the one I stood on. I ran to the edge closest to it and looked around. I could probably warp onto it's roof from where I stand and just walk through, it looks close enough. I look down to get an idea of how far a fall would be, when I notice I just hit the jackpot.

In the alleyway between the two buildings was an unharmed medium sized scorpion robot. It was worth two points, and was immobilized because it had somehow got one of its legs stuck in a small underground parking entrance.

 _It was trapped! And it was all mine! A perfect opportunity!_

I backed up a little and made up a plan. If I jump straight down, I could make an exit portal right next to the head of the robot, and put the entrance portal right at the ground where I would land. That way I could use my momentum from falling off the top of a building into an epic attack on the robot, and knock it out in one swift blow... I would use my feet to attack just to be safe. If I used my fist and hurt my hand somehow, it could jeopardize my ability to make warp gates in the first place, and then I'd be dead meat... If all went well, I could knock out the robot before it even knew I was coming, or at least be able to escape before it knew what happened.

 _Ok, here goes!_

I jump off... Adrenaline surges through my body like never before. I've jumped off of buildings before to use my momentum to warp myself towards somewhere else with huge speed, but this time I'm doing it to attack something! I pick up speed real quick, and put an exit portal right next to what looked like the center of the robots head... A moment later, I put an entrance portal just a foot above the ground where I'm going to land. I can never see through the portal towards the exit before I pass through, instead my portals look like little black holes that just swallow me up and spit me out somewhere else.

 _Oh shit, I'm leaning to the left!_

In tv shows that people watch, they always show someone jumping off a building or a cliff falling in a perfectly straight line, as if they're a professional diver. That isn't always the case, especially in alleyways where a slight breeze can magnify into a significant force. I was almost all the way down when I start leaning to the left, and if I didn't fix it I would end up going through the portal and body slamming the robot, which would hurt like hell. In a split second, I extend my left foot towards the entrance portal and straighten myself out, even though I prefer to attack with my right.

I pass through the portal, and drill the heel of my left foot into what looks like the brain of the scorpion robot.

 _JESUS **FUCK** THAT HURT!_

My leg was not locked straight when I kicked the shit out of the robot scorpion... It's a rookie mistake to lock your leg when landing, because you risk shattering your knee and having your leg fold the wrong way as the weight of your body comes to an immediate halt. It almost happened to me once before, but I got lucky. This time, my leg had a little slack, but the speed from my fall was so large that as I kick the robot, my leg buckles. My left knee comes right back into my chest, sending me straight backwards away from the trapped scorpion robot.

Basically I just kneed myself in the chest with the force of the 6 story building I jumped off of, using a giant scorpion robot as a landing pad.

I skidded along the ground doing backwards somersaults before coming to a halt, the wind knocked out of me. My epic kick-attack on the robot had literally the worst possible effect. Not only did I not do _ANY_ damage to it, but the force I used against it gave it enough strength to remove its leg from the underground entrance it was stuck in, _freeing_ the robot to do what it wanted with me!

And thats the story of how I died. The end.

* * *

Okay it didn't actually kill me... Physically...

I'm struggling to catch my breath as the death robot processes its newfound freedom. I don't _think_ I've broken any ribs, but I sure as hell would get a big ass bruise from where I kneed myself. Parts of my clothes were torn up from skidding along the ground as well, but apart from that, I was still in one piece.

The robot makes some sort of technical sound, the equivalent of a battle cry or a declaration of war. It turns its full attention to my wheezing ass on the ground and charges. I barely finish catching my breath before its almost on top of me, and then the damn thing explodes. The heat from the explosion was intense, and the sound of the explosion at such close range was almost deafening. I shield myself a little bit from both, but I am engulfed either way.

Once the smoke clears, I finally am able to look around to observe the damage. The robot was absolutely incinerated, pieces of scrap metal scattered all around me. I almost think it spontaneously combusted before I look upwards and see some kid flying over head. He had blonde hair and what looked like grenades for hands, with fire coming out the end of them like they were rockets.

 _"DON'T TRY TO STEAL KILLS FROM ME, ASSHOLE!"_

Then, as soon as he appeared and erased the robot about to use me as a toothpick, He flew off, leaving a bewildered me behind in his dust... _First of all, I found it first... Second of all, even though I was pretty much dead, what kind of douchebag kills a robot and then accuses someone being attacked by it of 'kill-stealing' from him before flying away? Some hero that dick would make..._

I stand up and brush myself off. My best chance at scoring points was a miserable failure, and I torpedoed the written exam pretty good, so my chances of getting into U.A. were squat. I mean, I didn't really think I had a chance to get in in the first place, but I did think I would have at least SOME measure of success. Man was I off to a bad start though. While my left foot wasn't broken, it was sore as hell. What hurt far worse then my foot though was my left ankle, which felt like someone hit it with the business end of a baseball bat. I can still walk, maybe jog, but not as quick as I normally can.

Just then, the DJ who could yell super loudly burst out an announcement. "THE TEST IS HALFWAY OVER, PLEASE CONTINUE TO SCORE AS MANY POINTS AS YOU CAN IN THE FIVE MINUTES REMAINING!"

 _Great, I burned half the time I had on one robot and only succeeded in hurting the hell out of my ankle and almost getting killed._

I had a couple of different options for what I could do next

1) Call it quits, head to the exit, avoid getting hurt further, and have the whole thing be a lesson for what to expect in future tests  
2) Try to find any level 1 robots to take out to try to get points  
3) Try to take kills from someone else who is fighting a level 3 robot

Option 3 didn't stand out because if I couldn't kick a level 2 robot without almost shattering my leg, I sure as hell wouldn't be able to last-hit a level 3 robot, let alone do so when someone else is already doing most of the work in defeating it. It was also a pretty dick thing to do as well, which was also a problem.

Option 2 might work, but I would be surprised if there were any level 1 robots even left now that the test was half over. Any level one robots still left would probably get sniped before I could even find them as well.

 _So, option 1 it is._

I'm still pretty close to the outer wall, and it's a straight path back to the exit with almost no chance of running into another robot along the way, since any robots nearby were already destroyed during the opening charge. I walk one block, then I start feeling better and jog comfortably. I'm almost all the way back by the time I can do a half-sprint, and then pure chaos unleashes itself.

Not even 2 blocks from the entrance, a collection of 4 skyscrapers suddenly collapse. In the rubble from underground emerges a GIANT robot, taller than any other skyscraper in the arena. This must have been one of those level 4 robots that aren't worth any points the DJ told us about, the ones you're not supposed to fight and simply try to avoid.

 _Easier said then done! This thing is gonna kill somebody!_

Once again, I had 3 options to choose from

1) Call it quits, head to the exit, hope the giant death robot doesn't decide to turn me into roadkill  
2) Run towards the giant robot and try to rescue anyone who might be caught in its way  
3) Use warp powers to try to jump up the robot, sneak in, and disable it from the inside

Option 3 wouldn't work because I don't know shit about robots or about disabling them, let alone capable of doing so. More importantly, I have never once been able to make an exit portal in an area I couldn't see, such as on the other side of a wall, so I would not have any way to get out of the robot quickly if it suddenly came crashing down.

Option 2 seemed like the noble thing to do, since its what All Might would do and there genuinely could be people at risk of dying, but that would be in violation of my number 1 rule which is if there's danger, RUN... Plus, everyone here had superpowers of their own that they seemed to know how to use, so there couldn't be THAT many people in danger, right?

 _Alright, option 1 it is._

After a pause, I stand still. Several more seconds pass by, and I continue to stand still. The giant death robot that had emerged from underground made its way towards the center of the arena, but I still have not moved.

 _Ummm, why am I not running towards the exit? It's already been decided that option 1 was the best option, why am I standing still?_

I look down the street along the wall, and I think I can make out the exit to the arena. If it's where I think it is, then I'm close... It's right there, and all I have to do is go to it...

 _So then why the hell am I still standing here?_?

I look over my body. My feet still work even though they were sore as hell, I can feel my hands resting along my side, and all my senses were working fine. I should be able to move, but I'm not. It's as if my body is revolting against my decision to follow Rule #1. I look at the giant robot, then the exit. Then the giant robot again, then back to the exit. I do this at least 5 more times, yet still, I stand still.

 _Rule number 2 is help people unless there's danger..._

 _Rule number 1 is run if there's danger..._

 _I could not even handle a trapped level 2 robot that was at best 8 feet tall without screwing up horrendously..._

 _There is now a GIANT DEATH ROBOT taller than a SKYSCRAPER very close by..._

 _I am in a LOT of danger..._

 _Therefore..._

 _WHY AM I STILL STANDING HERE?..._

This mental war in my head went on for several more seconds. Every voice in my head was telling me to run for the exit, but I just couldn't do it. The amount of danger in the arena was higher than any incident I had been in before, so this should have been the easiest Rule #1 application to make in a decision. Still, my body did not move. Later in life when I look back on this day, I would postulate that because the amount of danger was so high, it was NECESSARY to override Rule #1 and try to help anyone who was in danger. Avoiding life-threatening danger to myself is one thing, but diffusing life-threatening danger to someone else was something I had never encountered before.

The mistakes I made earlier in life where I would tried to help people no matter what were mistakes inspired by what I believed All Might would do in that situation. Now, my gut was telling me to make that mistake again, even though there were life-threatening consequences on the line. Listening to mental reason didn't work, and my body still refused to move towards the exit. I no longer had a choice

 _Fine, fuck it, lets try to save someone_

The pain in my foot subsided, and my body LAUNCHED itself forward towards the giant robot


	4. Entrance Exam: Epilogue 3 of 3

(Author's note: Sorry about the inactivity, this has been the longest chapter yet and I wanted to wrap up the epilogue. Enjoy!)

Location: Battle Center A of the U.A. Practical Exam. 1:03 PM

* * *

There were several hundred students in the arena when the giant robots appeared, about 50 to 60 were within the vicinity of the one near me. A third of them ran away immediately, half stood still and asked others what to do, and the remaining 15% or so began to attack it. A few of them had theories that the giants were actually worth loads of points and that killing it would leap-frog them into first place, while others attacked out fo frustration that they didn't kill as many robots as they wanted earlier in the exam.

None of us had any idea what we were in for.

* * *

The giant robot moved rather slowly, even though its on giant tank tracks rather then having legs, and I catch up to it in not time. This massive thing towers over the cityscape and is pushing 100 feet tall. I approach it from behind where I'm out of its sight, there is no obvious weakness or unarmored area to be attacked.

 _What's the plan? What's my plan? WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?_

I reach the robot right by the base of its feet, and I still don't have any idea of what to do. Several students in front of the robot began firing at its legs, all to no effect. Fire, lasers, water, acid... All kinds of attacks on it had almost no effect. I get right up to its feet and quickly figure out why.

 _Oh geez, its coated with shirudo!_

Shirudo is a gel-like substance that was discovered to have a remarkable ability at shielding something or someone from damage, like a tremendously effective paint-protector. It was used widely by police officers when heroes and villains first started popping up all over the world as a means to protect themselves from attacks by villains, and also by those who could afford it to protect anything of value. The substance was later outlawed for the majority of people when it was revealed that prolonged or even slightly excessive use of Shirudo gel could cause massive health problems later in life, but the government still used it to protect important buildings and monuments that could be targeted for destruction by a potential villain or terrorist.

 _U.A. getting their hands on some and using it on giant robots that could easily kill someone seemed a little like overkill, especially to an average middle-schooler!_

I look up as I'm almost right under it. The massive robot rumbling down the street on its tracks is very bulky, and has large segments of parts jutting out in all different places. It didn't look like one of the super futuristic mecha robots that I saw on TV once in a while, where everything was smooth and slick. Instead this thing looks like it was made as different parts and then assembled together over time. That works in my advantage if I want to jump onto the robot for some insane reason.

Miscellaneous yelling nearby catches my attention. Several other students that went with the main group towards the center of the arena when the doors first opened were nearby. I could see others fleeing, and more hiding in alleyways behind buildings as well. Everyone waited for someone else to make the first move.

Then the douchebag appeared in the skies out of nowhere

"I'LL PUT AN END TO THIS, LIKE A REAL HERO WOULD!"

The blonde kid with grenades for hands who yelled at me earlier for kill-stealing from him flew threw the sky right at the robot. He yells as loudly as he could for no particular reason, and unleashes a MASSIVE fire blast on the robot from point blank range.

 _It's covered in shirudo gel you idiot, only a direct physical attack would do any damage!_

Smoke surrounds the head of the giant robot as everyone stands nearby, waiting for something to happen. The smoke from the fire attack cloaks the top half of the robot from the ground, so no one could see what happened

"GUYS! YOU ALL NEED TO RUN RIGHT NOW! ITS STILL ALIVE!"

Only two or three people nearby notice me, none of which believe me

"Did you see the size of that fire attack bro?" Some muscular guy with black hair yells at me. "There's no way it could have survived that!"

"The robot is covered in Shirudo! Fire attacks won't have any effect on it!" I yell back at him  
"What the hell is Shirudo?" He yells at me.  
"GUYS LOOK OUT!"

The smoke around the head of the robot clears, revealing to be unscathed from the massive fire attack. It then raises both of its massive arms high in the air, and flings them to the ground with asteroid-impact-level force. Windows shatter in buildings all around. The ground where its fists came down dissolve and leave two craters across the road. The shockwave knocks back everyone in front of it, and almost flings me back. Luckily I stand behind one of the tracks of the giant robot, so I'm spared from the worst of the blast.

As the robot raises its fists back into the air, the outer covering around its hands and fingers retract, revealing a variety of different weapons underneath its massive armor. Machine guns, missiles, detachable pods filled with god knows what, even a couple harpoons all reveal themselves as the robot begins to target specific students.

 _Oh this is BAD..._

Everyone scatters or tries some futile attack on the robot as it lurches into motion. Unless All-Might himself enters the arena and one shots the robot right in the face, there's no stopping this killing machine.

The smartest thing to do in terms of being a hero right now would be to make sure everyone stays the hell out of its way.

I look up and raise my right arm. A portal opens just above the tracks of the robot. I point forward with my left hand which opens another portal and I walk through. Now I'm above the tracks of the robot, about 15-20 feet off the ground. I portal my way up a few more platforms and soon I'm a good 40-50 feet in the air, with a clear view of the ground below me. From this height, I could also use gravity to portal-dive my way with great speed towards anyone in imminent danger should I have to.

 _Now THIS is what I signed up for_

* * *

Rescue #1: Eijiro Kirishima

* * *

While most people ran away after grenade-kid's attack failed, a few ran towards the robot. The muscular looking kid with black hair I yelled at earlier attacks first. He jumps onto the track of the other leg of the robot and runs at its ankle, punching it furiously when he gets to it. Sparks start flying from his punches. He's actually doing some damage!

Then higher up on the robot around the knee, a large portion of metal suddenly protrudes outwards, revealing defense mechanisms for anyone who tries attacking its feet. Several guns materialize from inside the robot and point straight down at the red haired kid, unaware of what was taking place just above him.

I throw a portal right next to him and another one in front of me a short jump below. I dive through and tackle the kid out of the way right as the guns open fire. They shoot some sort of ooze right where the black haired kid used to be standing, which quickly hardens into some form of cement.

We tumble off the robot and into a ditch in the road created by a collapsing sky scraper. Its not very deep, but is just deep enough to provide us with cover from the giant robot.

"Are you okay?" I ask, alarmed at his skin. A number of jagged lines cross all over his arms and face, while the rest of his body feels rock hard, I worry that maybe some of the cement stuff got on him, or that he somehow ingested some of it.

"Yeah I'm... I'm fine" He murmurs  
"Are you sure? I think there's something wrong with your skin"  
"Thats just my quirk" He motions me to the side and sits up, the weapons arsenal at the robots knee retracts. "My quirk is hardening. I can make my body super hard and punch my way through just about anything"

He tries to stand up but stumbles

"Can you walk? Are you sure you're okay?"  
"Sorta..." He pauses "I can only keep this form for so long, and I already used a lot of it on the other robots"

 _Oh damn_ I thought to myself. _A hardening quirk would actually make someone really adept both at destroying robots and rescuing people, even if it does only last for a limited amount of time_

"Can you walk?" I ask again  
"Yes... Maybe... I think so..." He replies. I've told myself the same thing after using my quirk too many times before I inevitably vomit or collapse in exhaustion, so I could tell he was lying.  
"Here, Let's hop off and you just take it easy. You've probably passed the test already" I pull his shoulder over mine and help him walk, he's heavy as shit  
"I dunno, I've only destroyed like 19 robots"  
"That's 19 more then I have. You'll be fine"

He gets out of the ditch and starts making his way towards an alley between two still-standing buildings. He's exhausted and takes a seat on the pavement after limping for a few steps.

"Thanks for the assist back there bro"  
"Sure thing... Stay safe ok?"

I hop out of the ditch and portal my way back up the robot to my perch from before, when someone else leaps onto its other foot and goes for the other ankle

* * *

Rescue #2: Mina Ashido

* * *

The girl runs towards the giant robots ankle and stands next to it, shooting some sort of acid on it. Just like with the other knee, a large chunk of metal lurches open above the girl, and a variety of guns lock onto her.

"Look out!" I throw a portal as far as I can right next to her and open another one right near me. I charge full speed through the portal and tackle her out of the way. The guns shoot the same type of hardening ooze right where she stood just moments earlier.

"Are you okay?" I ask.  
The girl looks at me bewildered. She has light pink skin, small yellow horns, and almost entirely black eyes with yellow iris's.  
"Wh-what... What do you think you're doing?" She stutters  
I point up. "The robot has defenses for people who attack near its feet" Just then, the guns adjust their aim and prepare for a second attack  
"Move!"

This time the girl grabs me by my collar and flings me further down the tracks, almost throwing me off completely. She's _definitely_ much stronger than most other middle school girls, but then again, it doesn't take much to throw someone as tiny as me.

After throwing me aside, she somersaults her way forward towards the ankle for another attack, dodging another ooze shot from above. This time I can see that the acid comes out of her own skin onto the robot, still having no effect

"It wont work! The robot is covered in Shirudo Gel!" I try to warn her  
"What's Shirudo?" She asks  
"Its like a type of paint protector that makes something invulnerable to anything that isn't a physical attack!"  
"You mean like punching or hitting?"  
I nod furiously "Exactly like that. Look out!"

She looks up and once again, the guns are positioning themselves to fire on her once again.  
"I'll use my acid to dissolve the attack!" She takes a defensive stance and readies her hands  
"That won't work!" I yell as I get to my feet. I'm close enough and fast enough where I won't have to portal my way for this one.

The guns shoot again, she fires her acid up. I tackle her out of the way just as the ooze hits where she stood. Her acid dissolved some of the ooze, but not all of it.

"WHY DO YOU KEEP TACKLING ME!" She screams in my ear, almost on the verge of tears  
"Because it's not going to work!" I yell back as I get off her. "Are you okay?" I ask again  
"Stop asking me that, I'm fine!" She gets to her feet  
"There's no way attack this thing with things like fire and acid. Only punching seems to work"  
"Well then lets punch it to death!"... Her ideas were not the best

I can hear the guns repositioning themselves to fire again behind me.

"We can only try to avoid it or help other people get out of its way. There's no stopping this thing!" I plead.  
"WHY WOULD THEY HAVE US FIGHT SOMETHING THAT WE CANT DEFEAT?" Now she's almost sobbing at how unfair the test is, which I guess was understandable.  
"Because life sucks, now move!" I grab her hand and run. The guns seem to reload and fire only once every 8 seconds, so the entire time I'm trying to reason with this girl I'm mentally counting down the seconds until the next attack.

She follows me as ooze is fired right where we stood moments earlier and begins to expand and harden. We run to the edge of the tracks as it continues to rumble deeper into the arena

"Just avoid attacking the robot and try to help anyone stuck in its way okay?" I plead to her.  
"Why are you staying?" She asks  
"In case someone else tries to attack it or is stuck in its path. I can use my portal quick to get them out of the way!"  
"Ooooh ok... Bye!" She smiles and then leaps off the tracks onto the ground below before running off. I watch in bewilderment at how quickly her mood changes. She went from determined to sobbing to excited in a matter of seconds, all while being attacked by a giant robot.

I count to 8 in my head once again and look up, the guns have retracted back into the knee, and I'm safe once again

* * *

Rescue #3 Juzo Honenuki

* * *

I portal my way a bit higher up the robot and catch my breath, trying to calm down as I start to feel nauseous and dizzy. Almost everyone on the ground got the memo to avoid the robot at all costs, but one person remains, standing right in front of the oncoming robot rather then charge to attack or run away. I watch as he crouches down onto the road in front of the robot and does _something_ to it. I can't tell what it is, but the road in front of him suddenly changes in color and texture, stretching almost across the entire street.

The giant robot continues to rumble ahead, crossing over the altered road in front of it before slowing down. The person on the street below backs up a little and once again crouches down and alters the road. The robot comes almost to a complete halt as if it is suddenly driving through quicksand or a dirt road. It's finger weapons reveal themselves and prepare to open fire on the kid in the road.

Unlike the other two who attacked and were right at the robots ankles, this person was well in front of the robot, out of reach of where I could portal to in one hit. I could try to throw multi-portal my way to him, which involves creating an entire new set of portals in mid-air the instant I fling out of the first portals I create, but it would almost surely cause me to vomit assuming I could accurately place the portals where they needed to be. If I tackle him before the robot's weapons fire, I would only succeed in tackling him to the ground and surprising him right as the robot attacks, which would lead to both of us getting screwed rather than just one of us.

The other option is to portal down just once and use my natural speed to run to him, but the issue with that was that I could end up stuck in whatever the kid turned the road into, trapping myself in front of the robot right as it is about to fire.

Therefore I have no choice, I have to portal jump.

I extend my right hand and put a portal as far away as I could in midair, and then extend my left to put a portal right on the ground. It'll be just like the jump attack I used on the level 2 robot before, but this time I would use my momentum to get airborne enough to portal myself again to save the other kid. I leap off, and I hear the weapons of the robot's fingers begin to fire.

I come out of the other end with huge speed and fly through the air. The kid is about another 30 yards in front of me, and as the previous portal collapses, I extend my right arm to create an exit portal right next to the person on the ground before lining up the entrance portal. Just then, something drills through my ankle. 4 other things whizz also past my ear, and 2 things graze my shoulder.

They were bullets, and they were hitting me.

 _Oh SHIT, I accidentally put the exit portal right between the kid I'm trying to save and the robot's finger weapons that were firing, so now they're hitting ME!_

Three more bullets whizz past me as I create the entrance portal and pass through. I tackle the kid with a tremendous amount of force and we go flying off to the side of the road just as bullets start plastering the ground.

We bounce and roll on the pavement onto the sidewalk, picking up scratches and wounds all over. This time, he's the one that speaks to me first

"Are you alright kid?"

This time someone is asking me that question. I look up at him as I try to mumble and get a good look at him. He has a massive row of teeth all along his face as if he didn't have any lips. He also had blonde hair similar to the explosion kid who was an asshole, and his skin was pale yellow as well, almost the same color as his skin.

"I'm... I-I'm gonna be sick" Is all I can say as I repress the urge to vomit  
He looks back at the robot "LOOK OUT!"

The robot took almost no time at all to locate us, and targeted us a second time after missing the first. The kid grabs me by the collar of my shirt and yanks me with one hand into a nearby alley-way

 _Huuuarrrrghghghghghghgh_

I skipped lunch earlier that day to avoid a nasty vomit experience should I push myself to hard, but I emptied everything left in my stomach. If the double portal jump in midair didn't do it, the rolling around on the ground immediately afterwards did the trick. I projectile the few undigested raisins from my cereal this morning onto a wall while the guy carries me deeper down the alley to safety.

"Don't worry, a lot of people freak out when they see me" He says, trying to comfort me  
"No... No it's... It's not that" I stutter, trying to catch my breath and get the taste of shit out of my mouth. "This happens when I p-... portal-... HUUUARRRGHGHGHGHGHGH"

We come to a stop and I crawl to a nearby trashcan, emptying anything left of my stomach inside it. The gatorade I drank late last night before I fell asleep came out in addition to everything else, giving the vomit a pale blue tint that mixed very aesthetically with the rotting food in the trashcan.

"That's actually a pretty neat quirk to have, being able to portal your way all over the place" The guy seems very nice and appreciative, compared to the other two who were more angry that I interrupted their attacks than anything. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nod and pull myself together. "Yes, thank you... Are you okay as well? Are you hurt?"

He shakes his head. "I'm alright, yeah. Thanks so much for saving me like that, I didn't even see the attac-... Hey your foot is bleeding"

I look down at my feet and sure enough, one of the bullets the robot fired pierced through my left ankle, causing blood to stream down my ankle at both openings. The adrenaline I felt when I first charged at the robot began to subside, and the pain from when I attacked that level 2 scorpion robot now compounded with the pain from the bullet wound

"Fuckin hell" I mutter.  
"Here, let me bandage it" He then reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a bandage roll, wrapping it around my ankle nice and tight.  
"Oh you brought bandages with you?... Damn, that's actually a really good idea... Wish I thought of that"  
He nods. "I was in a couple application tests before this one that didn't go well, so I know what to expect. This your first?"  
I nod. "First and last probably. I want to help people more as a support than be an actual hero"

He finishes bandaging my leg and stands all the way up. He's not particularly tall, maybe 5'9 at the most, but he's a full head taller than me. "You could probably get in to a bunch of places with a quirk like that... I'm Juzo Honenuki by the way, just call me Juzo"

"I go by my first name Mazu" I reply, omitting the detail that my last name links me to the evilest criminal family in world history. "Nice to meet you"  
"No, it's nice to meet _you_ , I owe you a solid one for back there" He replies.

 _Goddamn this guy is polite_

I fumble my words as I reply "Consider the bandage make us even". Disorientation is a bitch when you're trying to make a good impression for someone.

He laughs lightly "If you say so... You sure you don't need any help?"  
I shake my head "I'll be fine, I've been through worse"

An earth shattering bang erupts from the main street, skyscrapers all around us quiver and rattle. While Juzo and I were playing medic in the alley way, the giant robot trapped in the liquified highway just around the corner placed its hands on nearby buildings to try to lift itself out of it, causing the buildings to collapse from shear weight. Smoke engulfs the alleyway, which is a gigantic problem for me.

I can only create a portal in areas I can see in plain site. I cannot create a portal in a place I cannot see, no matter what my proximity to it is. If I am on one side of a wall that is one inch thick, I would not be able to create a portal on the other side of that wall even if I am standing besides it. My ability to create portals relies entirely on being able to see where I want to create them.

 _So when my vision gets obstructed from something like the ash and dust from the collapsing buildings, it's a HUGE problem for me._

I hold my breath and make my way down the alley, trying to get away from the smoke that envelops me. More buildings shake and collapse as the robot tries to hoist itself to freedom, and debris nails me in the head, knocking me out.


	5. Ch 1: Acceptance

Location: Child Services Agency Branch 12, Tokyo. 9:58 AM. 1 Week after the U.A. Entrance Exam

* * *

I burst through the doors and triumphantly raise my arms up "I MADE IT!"

Shina Komena, the child resources officer in charge of my file, instinctively raised up the trash bin over her desk for me. An annoyed look on her face showed she knew what was coming next. I took the bin and emptied my breakfast into it, which was about 1 and a half pancakes and some slightly burnt toast. The orange juice tasted more acidic coming out than it did going in, which compounded both my misery and the smell

"So happy you could make it" Shina mutters, as she furrows her nose and places the trash bin far away from her as possible

"I wouldn't have eaten such a big meal if I knew I had to see you" I wipe some saliva/leftovers from my lip. "What's the occasion?"

She leaned forward as I take a seat across from her desk "I had a conversation with someone who wants to meet you regarding your performance at the U.A. tryouts"

I froze for a second at hearing 'U.A.' mentioned. "If this is some sort of trick to get me to apply for more tryouts, I'm not going to do it... I scored a whopping zero points at the U.A. one and had a building collapse on me" Having to be resuscitated by a kiss from an old lady also wasn't pleasant, but having a building collapse on you is usually a solid argument to use for not wanting to try something again... "I'm not interested in fighting robots that can kill people, or rather, TRYING to fight robots that can kill people... And failing miserably..." I trail off

Shina fought back a slight smile "The person I talked to on the phone saw your performance and seemed to rather like it, oh here he is now"

The door to the front office, left ajar after my triumphant arrival/vomiting episode, opened all the way as a bear person came in. It was a little polar bear that wore a suit with sneakers on its feet, had small square ears, little paws with 4 fingers on them, and a scar over its right eye. He also had a very long thin white tail like a mouse would, which would clue in some people to thinking he's not a bear, but I fail to notice because I am enamored with the cuteness of his face.

"Hello there" he said as he closed the door behind him. "My name is Prin-"  
"AWWWWWW HELLO" My inner child taking over as I dash right over to the guest. I crouch down to look him face to face. "You're the cutest thing I've ever seen! My name is MA-ZU... It's so nice to meet you! I hope you're having a good day today!"

I failed to notice Shina's expression behind me, which went from slightly happy to completely mortified in an instant.

"Why its very nice to meet you Mazu! And thank you for asking how my day is! It's quite enjoyable so far" He said with a smile. "My name is Nezu, I am the principal at U.A. Academy"

The big smile on my face freezes in place and my pupils narrow as I realize what I've just done. _I just talked to the principal of the most prestigious school in Japan as if he was a freaking baby!_

 _FUCK._

I fumble for words as my brain tries to process the massive fuckup it just committed. "Mr. Nezu... Sir... My apologies... I didn't know that... I thought-"

He laughs "Don't worry, it is quite easy to mistake me for a small child due to my looks, and people often remark at how adorable it is I look" He walks right past me as I am still frozen in awe and takes a seat across from Mrs. Komena. "I'm glad that you could come on such short notice, I am very busy and this was all the spare time I have for the next several days"

I unfreeze and scramble to the chair next to Nezu. I take a seat and glare at Mrs. Komena with a ' _Why the FUCK didn't you warn me or tell me who he was?!'_ expression on my face. She looks back at me in a _'I didn't think you'd actually say that to someone without knowing who they even were STUPID!'_ expression. We both direct our attention to Principal Nezu.

"Is it okay if I call you Mazu, or would you prefer I go by your last na-" He starts  
"No no, Mazu is fine, I prefer it actually" I interrupt  
"Wonderful!" He turns to Mrs. Komena while continuing to talk to me "I had a discussion with your adviser over the phone a short while ago because I wanted to meet you regarding your tryout for U.A. Academy"

 _Oh terrific, the principal of U.A. watched me put up a fat zero during the tryouts. Why did he take time out of his busy day to come see me then?_

"I'm sorry sir, it was my first tryout, I didn't know what to expect at all, I didn't even train before the exam or anything" I almost feel like vomiting out of fear, but luckily I had already thrown up earlier before he arrived. _WAIT WHAT IF HE SMELLS IT? BEARS CAN SMALL THINGS A MILE AWAY CANT THEY?_

 _OR IS THAT SHARKS?_

"Well yes, you did not succeed in destroying many robots, and you didn't do particularly well on the written exam either, but there is something you excelled quite well at, and I'd like some further clarification regarding your admission" He replies, shifting his gaze back to me while still wearing his adorable smile on his face

"Wait... I did good at something?" I look at Mrs. Komena who is equally confused. Our conversation after I was resuscitated made it seem like the tryout was a complete failure, because it pretty much was. Or so I thought. "What do you mean?"

"Well you see, there is actually a secret metric that is used to evaluate students who wish to enroll as heroes as U.A. Academy based on how many other students they help. 'Rescue Points' are what they are called" - Nezu

 _Rescue points? I don't remember hearing about that in the explana- oh wait SECRET metric. So I wouldn't even have known, nor would anyone_ _else_.

"How many rescue points did Mazu earn?" Mrs Komena asks, as curious as I was.

"The most you can earn is 80, because they are awarded from a panel of 8 judges who can award between 0 to 10 points each" Nezu begins "All 8 judges thought that Mazu performed exceptionally well when it came to helping other students in danger. He was willing to put himself in harms way, he asked other students if they were okay or hurt after helping them, and even fought through his own injuries to keep trying to help others! For that reason, he was awarded 68 rescue points total"

I stare at an empty space and realize all the things they noticed. It WAS true that my left ankle was pretty screwed before I saved anyone, yet I did fight through it. And I also asked everyone I helped if they were okay, and put myself in harms way to help them repeatedly. I guess fighting giant death robots brings out the best in people.

"But sir, I only saved I think 3 people?" I reply, still confused.  
"3 is all it takes sometimes. And you probably could have saved more people under different circumstances" Nezu replied cheerfully "You have tremendous potential to protect others thanks to your quirk and your personality"

"Oh, thank you... I mean, thank you so much!" A wave of relief and excitement erodes away the worry and confusion that held me in their grip.

Nezu turns to Mrs. Komena "Would it be okay if I talked to Nezu alone for a few minutes?"  
Mrs Komena nodded. "Absolutely, take as much time as you need"  
"Thank you very much. If you could please take out the trash bin full of vomit, it would mean a lot to me!"

 _God dammit, he could smell the vomit the fuckin ENTIRE TIME._

Mrs. Komena takes the trashcan and walks out the door, closing it behind her. Principal Nezu turns to face me and smiles "I must say, I didn't quite know what to expect when first meeting you, but so far you seem like a very good student who would make a quality hero"

"Oh I don't know about that" I shyly smile. "I'm good at moving around quickly and want to help people, not so much at defeating bad guys"

"Nobody is perfect at being a hero the moment they try it out. It takes lots of time, training, and focus to excel at it... Some heroes today even struggle with some of the responsibilities and duties that come with being a hero" - Nezu

"Even ones that attend U.A. Academy?" I ask

"Yes even then... And U.A. Academy is one hundred percent the best place to go to become the best hero you can be!" He replies enthusiastically, throwing up his hands in the air as if he was cheering for it.

"Without being blunt, am I getting into U.A. Academy?" I don't know why I decided to jump straight to the point, but if the principal came all the way here to see me, he either already made up his mind on the matter or he just wanted to make sure he was making the right decision.

"That's what we are here to discuss" He starts "We were a little concerned that such a last minute entry under the name 'John Doe' would do so well in our admissions test when they applied to take the it at the very last minute. Then when it was discovered that your last name was Risuto and that you have bounced in and out of foster homes all over Tokyo since you were 8, some administrators were very concerned and wanted further investigation"

"That's understandable" I reply "People always are skeptical of me when they find out my last name"

"Naturally we were concerned as well, which is why this meeting was necessary. If I may ask, why do you want to be a hero?"

I broke eye contact and looked down. "Well, to be honest..." I begin "In all the foster homes I've grown up in, whenever I was allowed to watch tv, the one thing I always wanted to watch were videos of All Might being a hero" I relax a little and my inner fanboy comes out "The way he can help so many people by punching his way through any problem and always giving hope to people, like that time he carried a hundred people out of a collapsed building, or defeated 4 villains all at once..." I move my arms in all different ways for emphasis and look at Principal Nezu every now and then, who just smiles back and listens. "It's super inspiring and amazing!"

"He is quite amazing yes, the best superhero we've ever had!" Nezu responds "So you want to be a hero to help people then because All Might inspires you?"

I pause "Well... Mostly" I trail off and grow shy again, which Nezu notices right away

"Why else?"

"Well... " I trail off again and then look down in my feet. I fold my arms and my voice drops "I'm from the Risuto family, which is the most notorious crime family in the world... I'm related to people who have committed murder, crimes, killings, all kinds of horrible things"

I shift in my seat as I suddenly am uncomfortable. Avoiding eye contact, I continue. "Risuto's have only done harm in the world and everyone hates them because of it. I do want to help people, like All Might, but I also feel like its my duty to help as many people as I can, so that I can try to erase some of the things the rest of my family has done"

Silence hung in the air. Principal Nezu's smile receded a little bit as he listened, and I was too shy to make eye contact. I had only ever told one person that I wanted to be a hero in the first place, one week earlier, I still hadn't told anyone that part of the reason I wanted to do that was to try to avenge the horrific history my family has inflicted on the world"

It felt like a full minute passes before Nezu chimes in again. "So you want to be a hero partly because you want to help people, and partly because you want to undo what your family has done in the past"

"Yes. Mostly help people, but also because I feel like... Like I have to do what I can to help erase what my family has done in the past... To undo the harm they've done" I reply

"I can see why you feel that way" Nezu pauses and takes a mint out of Mrs. Komena's mint cup on her desk. He unwraps it and pops it into his mouth. "Oooh that is flavorful. If what you say is true, which I believe it is, then I think you would make a strong addition to U.A. Academy"

My sneaking suspicion that Nezu would say that erupted into a tsunami of astonishment. "For real?" was all I could say.

"Yes. You do not seem to have any evil or nefarious goals, your emotions indicate that you carry the heavy burden of your family name around you all the time and only want to escape it, you have admiration for All Might like many other up and coming heroes do, and your actions in the entrance exam show you care about others and will throw yourselves in harm way to save them... Also you think I'm fluffy and cute, which a potential villain would never blurt out the moment they see me"

I blush hard, feeling the heat in my cheeks as I look away in embarrassment. _Was being a dork and showing my feelings really all it took to convince him I wasn't evil?_

"That brings us to the second part of what we must discuss"

I snap out of it "What?"

Nezu reaches into his vest/jacket and pulls out some papers stored inside. "Based on your statistics, you have remarkable speed and a good moral center, but you seem to struggle with strength, and you did rather poorly on the written exam"

I jerk forward to try to explain myself "Right... Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I didn't think there would be a written exam and didn't prepare for it at all... Also, A lot of the foster parents don't teach me things very well because of the whole 'Risuto' thing... But I am good at learning things when I'm given a fair chance. I promise"

Nezu nods "I believe you. I can see why you might not have done well due to the background you came from, it happens to many students who are abandoned or shunned because of their quirk. But this is about more then just your capabilities, its a matter of your overall focus"

[Blank stare] "My what?"

Nezu puts the papers away. "Let me put it more simply, I think you should be put on the hero track in Class 1-B"

[Blank Stare] "Is... Isn't that... Wait..."

"Your application indicates that you applied for the general studies department at U.A. Academy, but based on your current strengths and overall potential, we believe you would be a better fit for the hero track" Nezu replies

I lean back in my chair as I take it all in. Being rejected based on my lack of skills or my last name was one thing, but being put onto the hero track even though I wanted to be more of a support hero was something I wasn't expecting at all, especially from a place like U.A. Academy.

I still have many doubts.

"How can I be a hero though if I can't even defeat a level 2 robot?" I ask "Surely there are other students way more capable of actually fighting people who would be more qualified to beat villains"

Nezu's head leaned to the site in mild agreement and also disagreement "Hero potential is about more than just being able to punch really hard or blow something up, it also requires self sacrifice and use of one's natural abilities, of which you have what we are looking for"

I grow more encouraged, but still have doubts "Wouldn't other students freak out though if there was a... you know... A _Risuto_ at your school? Wouldn't parents or other heroes be upset?"

He nodded "There will be people who don't want you to be at U.A., but as long as you have the backing of administration, they wont be able to do anything about it"

I'm still not sold "I mean... I'm still not sure. I just don't see myself as a standalone 'hero' of sorts. I see myself more as a helper or a sidekick"

Nezu was unfazed "If you do not like the hero courses, you can always transfer down to the general studies courses. U.A. Academy is about having students maximize their potential and also sorting everyone into the courses they belong in."

"And you think that I would be a better fit in the hero track?" I ask, still finding it hard to accept such a radical belief.

"Let me put it another way" Nezu peeks at the papers in his jacket. "We assign scores to students that indicate how well of a hero they can be or already are. Class 1-A at U.A. Academy has an average hero score of 17 out of 25... Class 1-B has an average score of 14 out of 25, and the top general studies course, 1-C, has an average hero score of 11 out of 25" He looks back at me and keeps his papers in his jacket. "Your scores from our evaluations indicate you are at 14/25, which would put you right smack in the middle of Class 1-B"

My eyes widen. "Really?"

Nezu nods "You excel at speed and are okay in other qualities which is why your score is what it is. To put a student like you into the general courses would almost be limiting considering your potential. our evaluations indicate you would be overqualified for the general studies course"

 _Overqualified?_ I don't think anyone has ever used that term to describe me, unless the sentence was that I was 'overqualified' in making an idiot out of myself, or that I was 'overqualified' at walking into rooms and immediately forgetting why I walked into that room in the first place...

"If I accept, would... Would money be an issue? As a foster kid I-"

"There's no need to worry about that" Nezu interrupts "We already have arrangements in place to provide supplies and a meal plan for you should you accept"

I'm in disbelief. "Really?" is again the only thing I can think of saying.

Nezu nods "If you decide to enroll, we will make it as easy as possible for you to be able to focus entirely on training to become the best hero you can be"

A smile sweeps across my face "I, thats amazing... I can't believe it..."

"So, do you wish to enroll at U.A. Academy?" He asks

I go over everything in my head. _The scores indicate I belong in Class 1-B even though I wanted to be in Class 1-C, if I don't like it I could always transfer down to 1-C anyways, and the school has handled everything else for me regarding school supplies, housing, and meal plans as well. At this point a better question would be why NOT enroll at U.A. Academy?_

 _I couldn't think of any._

Still smiling, I give principal Nezu my final answer. "Okay. I'll enroll. When's the first day of class?"


	6. Ch 2: Class 1-B

Being on UA campus was like entering heaven. The pavilion was clean and well kept, the grass was green and soft, the central towers climbed towards the skies. I never thought a place could even look this pretty, let alone actually exist. I would have been completely swept away with joy and euphoria had it not been for one nagging concern that kept me on earth.

About three days ago, Principal Nezu sent me an actual messenger transporting a request that was for my eyes only. In it, he asked that I meet with my homeroom teacher 30 to 45 minutes before class started. There was no _-specific-_ reason behind the request, the only explanation was to go over stuff with my teacher before the rest of my future classmates showed up.

 _Is it because my last name was Risuto?_ _Was the teacher even aware of who I was?_

After getting nice and lost from looking at the scenery and looking inside every window I passed out of curiosity, I finally found the classroom that was my homeroom. Class 1-B. The first thing I notice is that the door is _fuckin massive!_ You could almost move a semi truck through the doors into the classroom if there was a ramp up to the door? _How big are my classmates? Is class 1-B going to be populated mostly by giants?_

 _Is my teacher also a gia-_

Before I can even finish asking myself the question, the door swings open, and my massive teacher is standing in the doorway.

Sekijiro Khan, also known as Vlad King, was a 6 foot 5 specimen of muscle. He must have weighed at least 350 pounds, all of which looked like pure 1005 kobe BEEF. Me, standing in front of him at a whopping 4 foot 3, looked minuscule in comparison. I didn't look like someone he would fight, I looked like something he would use as a tool to fight someone bigger, _thats_ how big Vlad King was.

I damn near hurt my neck looking up at him so fast, whereas he almost could have walked right over me and not even notice I was there. Thankfully he looked down after opening the door and caught me staring up at him in surprise and amazement.

"Mazu?"

My brain, in all its terrific power at that moment, had a micro-second of indecision where it was torn between being polite and saying 'yes sir', or playing it cool and saying 'thats me!'. So, instead of doing either of those things like a functioning member of society, my brain instead insists on making me emit some sort of weird coughing and gurgling instead.

 **Vlad King** : "Are you alright?"  
 **Me** : (Trying to not cry at my own idiocy) "Yes, yeah, just, just had something in my throat for a second"  
 **Vlad King** : "You're late. But come on in, we have to discuss some things while we still have time"

He invites me in to the classroom and shuts the door behind me. The classroom is massive in that the ceiling is very high up in the air. 20 seats in rows 4 by 5 all face the front of the classroom where there is a large whiteboard and a long table in front.

Vlad King takes a seat behind the table and gestures towards the other side where there is no chair. I scurry over in front of the table and stand at attention. Vlad sitting down is still almost taller than me standing straight up. He opens a file with my name on it and begins talking.

 **Vlad King** : "I'll keep it short and to the point. Principal Nezu has informed me about your history and your family lineage, and assured me that your heart is in the right place and that you want to be a hero. Correct?"  
 **Me** : "Yes. Yeah... Well wait... 'Hero' not exactly, I just want to be able to help people, he wanted me to try out the hero track"  
 **Vlad King** : "I see. While I believe Nezu and am willing to give you a shot at the hero course, there are two things we have to go over. First off, being in the hero course is incredibly tasking. It takes a lot of hard work and discipline to turn a recently graduated middle schooler into a professional hero, and there are some who simply cannot handle the physical strains demanded of them by the hero course."

He pauses and looks up at me from the file with my name on it, as if to really drive a point home.

 **Vlad** : "I need you to understand that when I am pushing you and putting you into difficult situations, it's because it is my job to train you that way so that you can become a real hero. It is _**NOT**_ because you're last name is Risuto and that I resent you for it. Do you understand?"  
 **Me** : (Nodding) "Yes sir, I mean, teacher, I mean, professor, I mean, uhh..."

 **Vlad** : "Professor is fine"  
 **Me** : "Yes sir... I MEAN PROFESSOR, sorry... Sir..."

 _Jesus Christ, Mazu get it together._

 **Vlad** : "Alright, that sorts out the first order of business. The second thing is that you are not to disclose that your last name is Risuto to any of your classmates under any circumstances"  
 **Me** : "... Umm, what?"  
 **Vlad** : "In all official documents your last name does not appear on anything. Your name is simply listed as 'Mazu' with no last name. Your student card just has your first name on it correct?"  
 **Me** : "Yes, I had assumed I would have to get that fixed thou-"  
 **Vlad** : "No that was done with intention. You are not allowed to tell anyone that you're a Risuto"

I look up at the board and see a list of names of students. They are all listed alphabetically according to last name, and at the very bottom of the list I see just the word 'Mazu' at the very bottom. Just Mazu.

 **Vlad King** : "You are not to tell any of your classmates what your last name is, understood?"  
 **Me** : "Well, well what do I tell them then when they ask why I don't-"  
 **Vlad King** : "Make something up, and stick with it. I'll be right back"

Just like that, Vlad King gets up with the 'Mazu file' and walks out the door, leaving me all alone in the classroom with just my backpack and materials.

 _Guess I get to pick my own seat_

I turn around, never having been in a real classroom before, and start doing some thinking. Based on tv shows I watched, certain kids always sit in certain places.

 _The front row?_ The super bright kids who actually do crazy things like ask questions and want to be called on? Not really my cup of tea.  
 _The back row?_ The bad kids who dont really care about their grades? I would actually prefer staying here at UA.  
 _Seat right by the door?_ People would see me right when they walk in, blending in to the background would be better.  
 _Second to last row by the window to look out dramatically?_ What am I, an anime protagonist who is the main character? PFFT.

After a few more mental gymnastics, I zero in on a spot. Two rows back towards the middle, where I would be able to actually see the front of the room while also be able to blend in at the same time. I take a seat right as the other students start coming in.

And then the show begins.

* * *

Everyone finds a seat and starts chatting with each other. Some know each other from attending the same school as before, some know each other from being at the same entrance exam, some know each other from being related to pro hero families. I sit there quiet with a casual smile on my face, glad no one has recognized me or identified me.

Vlad King walks back in and the class immediately falls silent. Everyone intimidated by his huge stature just as much as I was when i first met him

He starts off with an introduction and a breakdown of what to expect in his class. Hard training, not for everyone, some will fail, all that stuff he mentioned to me earlier. I pay keen attention anyways just in case I hear something I missed the last time, but then he transitions to class introductions.

 **Vlad King** : "... As classmates, this is the first day of a close kinship you will all form with each other. You may become close friends with other heroes elsewhere, but your classmates here today, at least the ones who pass, will always be your first real hero friends once you get out there into the real world... Everyone's name is on the board, I want you to come up and introduce yourself to everyone. Say you're name, why you want to be a hero, something interesting about yourself, whatever you want your first impression to be. Feel free to ask questions to anyone if you are curious about something. We are all on the same team here."

 _Oh boy, I'm gonna be last one to go that people may actually remember..._

The introductions go about as expected. Some people are eager to meet everyone and really introduce themselves (Itsuka Kendo, Yosetsu Awase), some are mysterious and keep to themselves (Shihai Kuroiro, Togaru Kamakiri), some are painfully shy where I couldn't even hear them even though I was two rows back (Kinoko Kimori, Nirengeki Shoda), and some are just physically imposing who just look like they're going to be teh heads of the class and sail through the hero course (Jurota Shishida, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu)... One of them who I actually recognize is Juzo Honenuki, who was one of the guys I helped out in the entrance exam... Everyone goes one by one with only a few getting asked any questions, and then I'm up.

 **Vlad King** : "Mazu"

I stand up and make my way to the front of the class, avoiding eye contact to not lose my nerve. I hear some snickering in the background which I think was about my height before I come to a stop at the front of the class.

Alright, here goes

"Hi everyone, my name is Mazu..."

 _IMMEDIATELY_ a hand goes up

Sen Kaibara, one of the quiet kids that went earlier who seemed confident and just an introvert, immediately asks the question I suspected would be asked.

 **Sen** : "Is there a reason why you don't have a last name-?"  
 **Vlad King** : " ** _DO NOT INTERRUPT OTHERS WHEN THEY ARE STILL TALKING_** "

His voice fuckin shakes the room and everyone jumps in surprise, even Sen breaks and shows emotion when he had not before and immediately quiets down.

I just keep going.

"I, uh, wanted to go into General Studies but was placed here in the hero course..."

I trail off, and the thing happens. You know, that thing where the voices inside your brain start fighting and you can't do anything else until it gets sorted it out.

 _Tell them your last name.  
_ _What?  
You gotta.  
DO NOT tell them your last name, they'll hate you for it._  
 _They deserve to know._  
 _The teacher explicitly said not to do that._  
 _You mean professor._  
 _Oh right, yeah, the professor explicitly told you not to do that.  
They seem like they will understand.  
Everyone will target you if you tell them._  
 _Not everyone will..._  
 _Fine, MOST OF THEM will target you if you tell them._  
 _They'll see that I'm not one of the bad ones._  
 _Oh, theres more than one good Risuto now? When did we reach the dizzying heights of TWO Risuto's who weren't villains?  
Im gonna tell them._  
 _DO NOT tell them, I will make you pee in front of everyone right now!_  
 _You dont have that kind of power.  
Fuck you, you have to listen to the teacher._  
 _You mean Professor._

"Mazu...?"

Vlad King snaps me out of my trance and back into reality. I glance over at him and the look on his face is half concern if I'm okay, and half alarmed at the thought that I might do the thing he told me not to do.

Right then, I think the thing everyone thinks to themselves before they make a difficult decision.

 _(sigh)... God dammit_

 **Me** : "Professor I'm sorry, I have to tell them, they deserve to know if they're going to be in the class with me for the whole year"

I face back towards the class, who is now curious, and before Vlad King and prevent me from doing it, I do the thing.

 **Me** : "Guys the truth is that I do actually have a last name, but the problem is that my last name is Risuto. As in the Risuto family of super villains"

All hell breaks loose.

"You're a Risuto?"  
"Bullshit, UA would never allow a Risuto to try out for the hero course!"  
"Do you have some sort of super evil quirk?"  
"Can I switch seats with someone? Anyone?"  
"Rabble rabble rabble rabble!"

All the questions blend together as is I just announced to them all that I was Iron Man, but I do manage to hear one question in context from a girl with green ivy hair in the front row.

 **Ibara** : "Are you're parents just regular villains who happen to be Risuto's or are they like super big villains? You cant be related to one of the 'big name' Risuto's right?"  
 **Me** : "Pfft I wish... My dad is _Frostbite_ , thats how bad it is"  
 **Everyone** : "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!"

Now the shit has _officially_ hit the fan as everyone is almost shouting to be heard over everyone at what they feel is most important to consider right now.

"You're father is Frostbite, as in THE Frostbite?!"  
"He's like the worst of the Risuto's!, He's the only Risuto to have killed another Risuto!"  
"Isn't he locked up in the super prison right now?!"  
"Professor did you allow him to be in class with the rest of us?!"  
"Is your hair blue because your father was Frostbite?!"

 _ **"ENOUGH!"**_

Vlad King's voice thunders through the room and everyone comes to a nervous halt. He stands up and walks over behind me, resting his left hand over the entire top half of my head, as if I was some sort of pet dog found in the back alley that everyone else in the house wanted to kick out because they think it has some sort of disease

 **Vlad King** : "Mazu was told to keep his last name a secret... From everyone... Both for all of your safety and also his own. His father is indeed Frostbite, who was a horrible villain that killed civilians and heroes alike before finally being captured and locked up... Mazu though has not been near him since he was 8 years old... He was not raised to be a villain nor does he act like one either. In fact, when he took the entrance exam for UA, all of the points he scored in the exam came from him helping others not get hurt, not from the number of robots that he destroyed... He would not be in this classroom right now if the administration did not have full faith that he wants to help people and be a hero"

The class begins to calm down as everyone transitions from initial panic to highly intrigued concern, or rather, highly concerned intrigue.

 **Vlad King** : "Furthermore, Mazu has a massive target on his back simply because his last name is Risuto. A lot of people in this school have been or know someone who has been harmed by a Risuto in the past. Because of that, some might be tempted to hurt Mazu simply because they want to avenge someone, even though Mazu had nothing to do with that person... This has happened before to students who have quirks that people could perceive as 'evil' quirks, such as blood bending or possession... A quirk does not decide someone's allegiance towards good or bad though, and a persons last name doesn't do that either..."

With his hand still enveloping the top half of my head, I look around and start seeing people's gazes at me. Some are suspicious, some look scared, but a few are starting to look calm and kind of sort of relaxed. Maybe the fact that I looked as strong as a 9 year old white girl disarmed people to the idea that I was some sort of ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.

 **Vlad King** : "As difficult as they may ask, I am asking you all to give Mazu a chance to prove himself. Some of you may know what its like to have people doubt you because they don't think you were smart enough or strong enough or fast enough to be a hero. Understand though that the _whole world_ right now thinks that of Mazu simply because of his last name... If he cannot become a hero for whatever reason, he will be expelled from the hero course, same as anyone else. He will not be expelled or punished harder just because his name is Risuto though, he deserves a chance to prove himself, just like the rest of you... If I catch any of you trying to pressure him to drop out of the hero course because of some bone you have to pick with the Risuto clan, then you will be the one expelled from the hero course... Same goes with anyone who tries to pressure anyone else to drop out of the hero course. Does everyone understand?"

(Silent nodding)

 **Vlad King** : "Very good. Now that introductions are done, I need everyone to grab your stuff and line up, we are going to do a quirk apprehension test now"

And with that, the introductions have ended. I calmly grab my stuff and act like nothing out of the ordinary just happened, while everyone else quickly gets in line. I lag behind in the back to give people plenty of space, just out of courtesy, and we make our way out into the fields.


	7. Ch 3: Apprehension Test 1 of 2

As we walk out to the fields for the test we were about to take, I make sure to keep a bit of distance between myself and the rest of the class. In the past when I admitted to people that I was not only a Risuto, but a descendant of one of the main Risuto villains themselves, the reactions I saw in people were pretty similar... First there was shock, as if it was biologically impossible for me to be related to something as nefarious as the Risuto's in the first place. Second was confusion, where people are torn between trying to get more information about me, or question why I revealed such a dark secret to them. The next step though is where some differences pop up depending on one's personality. The ones who don't have a lot of self confidence take flight, in that they run away from me as quickly as they can and then try to stay away as much as possible. They see me as nothing but a threat to them from that poitn on. Those who are more confident in themselves prepare to fight, because they think that by revealing my secret to them I am issuing some sort of challenge to them that is life or death... Very rarely do I get the third option I am always hoping to see: Understanding that despite being a Risuto, the reason for admitting so is because I have enough respect and honesty to them where I believe they should know about my lineage and who I am.

Back to the present, I hope that Vlad King's speech helps the possibility of that third option becoming reality for my classmates. Only one or two of the students look back nervously at me as we walk which gives me some hope, but at the same time, who knows how many are just waiting to confront me outside of the classroom about me being a Risuto. Logic and reason can calm down a person temporarily, underlying fear or hatred can be perpetual if left unaddressed.

We'll have to find out later.

"Line up right here, stand shoulder to shoulder"

I step next to Yosetsu Awase as Vlad King arranges us in a line at the edge of an open field. There are several areas that look designed for particular activities, it almost looks like some sort of playground except for kids to screw around with their powers and quirks.

 **Vlad King** : "We're going to take four different tests. They will evaluate the strength, speed, control, and technique you have over your quirk. A lot of people think that the most powerful quirks are ones that excel at one of these qualities above all other quirks, but in reality it is quirks that perform decent at all of these qualities that make for the best heroes." he begins. "It is better to get B's or B+'s in every class rather than get an A in one class and D's in all the rest"

 _'Makes sense_ ' I think to myself with a nod

 **Vlad King:** "I will be keeping scores for students after each test. Your job is to get the best possible score by performing very well overall on ALL of the tests. However, due to the reasons stated previously, students who only perform well at one of the tests and do poorly in the other three will have their scores curved downwards as a result"

(Nervous silence by everyone)

 **Vlad King** : "The two students who have the lowest scores after all four tests will be expelled from the class and be put into the General Studies course instead"

(THAT got people's attention)

"But... But it's only the first day!"  
"Wait! What if the tests have inherent flaws that don't adequately evaluate the strengths of our quirks?"  
"Will we be able to practice beforehand?"

Vlad King immediately gets barraged with questions and requests, but I hold my tongue. The other students act like getting demoted to the General Studies course is as bad as being kicked out of the school entirely, but General Studies was what I was aiming for in the first place when I applied, so my concern is minimal compared to others.

Vlad King, looking stoic and not even acknowledging questions from his students, holds up only his pointer finger and waits. The class immediately comes to a stop and becomes quiet.

"There is an exception" Vlad almost whispers "These tests are the same tests that generations of classes before you have taken, ever since UA first opened. If any of you, by some miracle, happens to complete a test with a score that breaks a UA record, you will gain immunity from expulsion"

Before anyone can ask any additional questions, Vlad immediately begins the first of the four tests.

* * *

 _ **Test 1: Speed Test**_

* * *

The first test is simple enough, a 30 yard sprint in a straight line, but theres a big catch. Rather than go one by one, students have to race in pairs. Vlad tells us that we can use our quirks to hinder someone else's speed if we can't use our quirks to enhance our own speed. As the last one in line, I get to watch everyone else go before me and get a good idea of some of their quirks... Juzo, Kojiro Bondo, and Ibara use their quirks to slow down others, while Jurota, Sen Kaibara, and Tetsutetsu use their quirks to brute-force their way through any obstacles... The most impressive performance though comes from Hiryu Rin. His quirk allows him to shoot scales at enemy opponents, but also to use scales as a defense mechanism for himself, a great two way quirk optimal for both attack and defense. Neito notices this, and reveals his quirk 'copy' to use the same quirk for himself, beating out Hiryu's time and having the fastest time of the class.

Then comes me and Yosetsu Awase as the last race.

 **Vlad King** : "Time for the last race. Yosetsu and Mazu, line up"

I line up in the left lane while Yosetsu gets in the right lane, closer to the rest of the class.

 **Neito** : "You better not lose to the Risuto on the first day Yosetsu! That would be really embarrassing!"  
 **Yosetsu** : "Shut up Neito, I need to focus!"  
 **Neito** : "Fine, just do me a favor and dont let him beat my time, okay?"  
 **Yosetsu** : "Eat a dick!"

 _I dont know why, but part of me likew this guy already._

 **Vlad King** : "Alright boys... On your mark, get set-"

I glance to the right and see Yosetsu looking right at me, focusing on me. He either was ready to play defense and anticipated an attack from me, or he is planning to use his quirk against me with an attack of his own, so I have an opening. If I can open both portals quick enough, I will be able to pass right through both of them and cross the finish line before he can even get a hand on me. I like my odds as I've literally practiced this move for my entire life up to now.

"GO!"

Yosetsu immediately lunges at me, but it's too late. I throw my left hand forward and open a portal near the finish line. Then I throw my right hand forward and open a portal right in front of me. I pass right through it and the portals close behind me. It's over just like that.

"TIME!"

I turn around and raise my hands up a little bit in case he is right behind me. Instead, he is all the way back at the starting line, flabbergasted. The rest of the class is also stunned, and even Vlad King has an eyebrow raised as he checks his timer.

"Point seventy six seconds... A new record"

Vlad King sounds 90% disappointed and 10% impressed when announcing the score, while Yosetsu frantically dashes to the end of the finish line after shaking off the initial shock.

 **Yosetsu** : "Shit!" He yells out as he crosses the finish line  
 **Neito:** "You have a weld quirk and you STILL missed him? He was right next to you!"  
 **Yosetsu** : "He literally teleported to the finish line before I could do anything, what the FUCK could I have done differently?"  
 **Neito** : "Not been slow as a turtle and maybe get a hand on him?"  
 **Me** : "Sorry about that, its just, thats what my quirk..." I say as we walk back to the end of the line  
 **Yosetsu** : "Don't apologize, you did fucking great, im just annoyed and shit is all"  
 **Me** : "Speed is like, the one thing I'm super good at"  
 **Yosetsu** : "Yeah, I can tell. It's fine"

We stand back in line and Vlad King stands in front of the class, waiting for everyone to quiet down.

 **Vlad King** : "Alright class. Per the rules, Mazu has gained immunity for breaking a school record for fastest 30 yard dash... There are still 3 tests left for you to showcase your quirks, and the next test is a strength test. Follow me"

The class follows Vlad in the same order as before.

 _Thank fuck I set the speed record cause I'm about to get screwed in the strength test_

As we walk with me all the way in the back like before, Yosetsu drops back all of a sudden until right beside me. He keeps his voice down to make sure no one else but me could hear him.

 **Yosetsu** : "Alright now that I'm relaxed I can admit now that what you did back there was pretty sick"  
 **Me** : "...Thanks... I still feel a little bad that you had to be the one to go against me"  
 **Yosetsu** : "Shit happens, I'll get over it. That was a really nice job though"

 _Okay he's being super nice to me after I embarrassed him fairly hard in front of the entire class, I def have to say something nice back to him._

 **Me** : "Thanks..." (Awkward pause) "Your bandana is pretty sweet"

He looks at me confused with an eyebrow raised.

 **Yosetsu** : "Really?"  
 **Me** : "Yeah...Uh, It looks cool and... makes you look tough"

He glances at me stoic for two seconds, then a big goofy grin breaks out across his face

 **Yosetsu** : "Thanks little man! I have some old ones I don't use anymore if you want one... Shit, lets go, we need to catch up with everyone else"

He dashes forward to catch up with the rest of the class, leaving me behind as confused as he looked when I finished the race in an instant.

 _Did... Did I just make a friend?_

I hurry up to everyone else as Vlad King brings us to a stop at the next test

* * *

 _ **Test 2: Strength Test**_

* * *

The next test is located at a paved corner of the park. There is concrete ground and a large brick wall next to it, with a variety of circles and lines painted around it

 **Vlad King** : "For this next test, we will evaluate the amount of physical strength that your quirk enables you to use. There are two ways this can be measured, and you are allowed to pick your preference" He holds up a glove. "For the first option, you will throw a punch while wearing this glove. It will be able measure the amount of force you unleash upon impact which will determine your score." He pauses then holds up a vest. "The other option is this. If you prefer to play defense instead of offense, you can wear this vest which the other side will have to punch. The vest measures how much you move in response to the hit, and how little you move will determine your score..."

He shows off both of the items so that everyone can see them clearly.

"You will pick the one you want to use. If your quirk is best for offense, you can request to use the glove. If you are better suited for defense, then you wear the vest... You guys will again be paired up against each other, with one person on offense being able to do one attack on the person who wants to play defense."

 _'Ooooh this wont be good_ _'._ I have flashbacks to the failed attack in the entrance exam where after jumping off a medium sized skyscraper to use a portal attack against a robot, I only succeeded in seriously hurting my own ankle and almost getting wasted by the robot I intended to attack in the first place... The issue is, while my attack abilities were pretty terrible, my defense was probably WORSE. Considering how powerful some of the quirks the other students have, them being able to literally have a free shot at me could quite possibly kill me... So while my attack ability is terrible, the mortality rate is still better compared to my defense ability...

Now I just need to be able to select offense before I get forced to wear the vest.

 **Vlad King** : "Since Mazu actually managed to break the record in the speed test, he will be able to pick first"

 _Thank fuck._

 **Me** : "I'll take the glove!"  
 **Vlad King** : "Monoma, you finished second, what do you choose?"  
 **Neito** : "I'll use the vest"  
 **Vlad King** : "Hiryu, which do you pick?"  
 **Hiryu** : "I will also use the vest"  
 **Neito** : "Pfft, copy cat"  
 **Kendo** : "Neito be nice"

Vlad goes through the entire class in order based on their time, and a large majority of the class prefers to use the glove. To balance things, Vlad King allows those who used the vest to be able to defend multiple times in order to improve their scores, which most of them accept.

The test begins and a few different people stand out compared to the speed test. Tetsutetsu is a brick wall made out of iron and anchors himself to the ground pretty hard, while Nirengeki Shoda almost knocks Kojiro Bondo flat on his back with some sort of boxing quirk.

 **Vlad King** : "Three hundred eighty four. Very solid"

Neito copies Tetsutetsu's quirk, of course, and also does well, while Itsuka Kendo almost bursts through the glove entirely with a massive fist that knocks Juzo back several feet.

 **Vlad King** : "Four hundred and sixteen, well done Itsuka"

Unfortunately for me, I am paired up against one of the strongest looking students in the entire class, Jurota Shishida... Jurota is a beast. _Literally_. A half man-half ape looking person, he kicked ass in the 30 yard dash by going into some sort of 'beast mode' that made him to grow in size and get crazy amounts of strength and agility. He is only 5 foot 8 or so in his normal size, but he is still a foot and a half taller than me, which makes him that much more intimidating from my perspective.

I take my position near the start while he stands in the middle a circle 15 feet away from me. I can hear from other students watching say the very things that are going through my head

"How is the portal quirk going to help him here?"  
"Jurota looks like he thinks this will be a walk in the park"  
"Risuto is lucky he has immunity from the race, I don't see how he will do well here"

They all had a point. _If I try the same attack from the entrance exam, I imagine it will end just as poorly. But what else could I even do? Just walk up and try to punch him?_

"Go!"

 _Screw it, it's all I got._

I point my right hand high in the sky and open up a portal as far up as I can, a good 15 yards (13.7 meters) into the air. Then I flick up my right hand and open a portal right below me. I jump in and dive down through the portal in the sky.

As I pass through, I am not quite as high up as I was during the entrance exam when I jumped off the roof, but Im still high enough to build up a concerning amount of speed as I fall. I throw open a portal behind Jurota, now looking up at me, and create the entrance portal directly below me

I pass through and SLAM into Jurota.

While I've never been hit by a truck before, knock on wood, slamming into Jurota must be the closest simulation to getting hit by one short of actually doing it. I crumble to a heap onto the ground behind him as I shoot out of the portal, as if I'm a fuzzy squeak toy that was thrown at him.

Vlad checks at his reading as the class bursts into laughter, and his face... It's hard to describe the face he makes. 'Cringe' is the closest thing I can think of, but I don't really notice since stars are spinning all around my head and I'm trying to remember where I am.

"Thirty, Two..." He hesitates as he reads off the number.

The class erupts into laughter, most of them anyways. Some of the girls just roll their eyes or look confused, but close to all the guys are laughing or at least snickering. Neito's laugh is the loudest. He's almost broadcasting his laugh over the entire school as he arches himself backward and grabs onto his own chest

 _Yep. That went about as poorly as I feared._

"Are you alright sir?"

Jurota turns around and slightly leans over me, not laughing in the slightest. I almost didn't even notice the glasses he wore as he asked the question, my brain too alarmed by his appearance and muscles to have processed that. They weren't just light reading glasses either, they were THICK lenses in a rectangular frame. The kind that some sort of German physicist would wear. "Let me help you up"

Before I can make any effort to pick my own limp ass up and show that I'm mostly fine, Jurota grabs my clothes in the center of my chest with a single hand, and yoinks me upright onto my feet like its nothing. I damn near fall back down from the surprise of suddenly having to support my own weight again, getting a few more laughs from Neito while the rest of the class calms down.

 **Neito** : "THIRTY TWO?... THIRTY - TWO... THATS ALMOST AS BAD AS-"

Before he can finish, Kendo slugs him in the side of his face. The girl next to Kendo who Neito was about to refer to, Kinoko I think her name was, looks down sheepishly.

 **Vlad King** : "Neito if you don't learn to keep quiet then you can consider yourself disqualified from the rest of the tests. You two get in line, let's go" He says to me and Jurota before turning around.

We head back in line as everyone follows the teacher to the next test. Everyone minus Yosetsu, who drops behind once again.

 **Yosetsu** : "Dude, that was the - FUNNIEST - thing I've ever seen, not gonna lie"  
 **Me** : (Awkward laugh) Yeah that went about as poorly as I thought it would"  
 **Yosetsu** : "I mean, like, (giggles), I don't want to make you feel bad or anything but, its just, that was HILARIOUS"  
 **Me** : (More regular laugh) It's like I said before, speed is like, the ONLY thing I'm good at"  
 **Yosetsu** : "Yeah, you weren't kidding about that little man"  
 **Jurota** : "Lets keep moving"

We catch up to the rest of the class and keep following, but after a few steps, Jurota drops back and tugs on my shirt a little bit, pulling me back with him.

 **Jurota** : "I have a question to ask you. Did you decide to hold back with your attack in the strength test, and if so, what was your motive for doing so?"  
 **Me** : "What?"  
 **Jurota** : "In that jump attack you did, where you utilized your portal quirk to enhance your speed by using gravity to your advantage. You didn't intentionally limit yourself or hold back with your attack on me resulting in you barely doing any damage, did you?"  
 **Me** : "No... No no no, not at all... I, that was, really. That was the best I could do"  
 **Jurota** : "If you held back because you don't want to alarm your classmates and make them fear you for being a very powerful member of the Risuto clan, its quite alright, I will refrain from telling anyone"

The idea that I was secretly containing some sort of mega power or ultra attack move almost stuns me into complete silence, in addition to the way he talks, but I keep it together.

 **Me** : "Its... No, for real, I legitimately am terrible at attacks and stuff. Strength and stuff is my biggest weakness, far and away. Trust me on this"

I'm almost bushing in embarrassment as I explain myself to Jurota. You have to be legitimately awful at something in order for someone to question if you held back or sabotaged yourself beforehand, and I could feel my face turn red as I try to explain things to him. He looks at me and can see my shame plain as day, which quickly convinces him that Im telling the truth.

 **Jurota** : "Very well. I just wanted to know for sure while keeping this between us in case you desired privacy over the matter."

Rather than walk away past me and try to catch up with the rest of the class, Jurota instead keeps the same pace as me as we continue walk. I glance at him as we follow at the back of the line and notice small things about him. He has two teeth on the bottom row of his mouth that stick out from his mouth, just like Vlad King does. His arms are completely covered in hair and he has more hair around his chin and side of his face, but he has no mustache. He walks very upright and has long hair parted down the middle, and he certainly talks differently than most people my age I was ever around.

 _He seems like a hero_

The little things about him, things most people might overlook or not even notice or care about, to me makes him look like one of the students in the class with the best odds of becoming a real hero. His strength and appearance are the most obvious hints to his potential, but beneath that, he has many other impressive qualities. There seemed to be a list of little traits about him that separates him from everyone else in the class. Growing up, _he_ was the type of person I imagined myself being a side kick for. The kind of guy who is strong but smart enough to be a good leader while I was off to the side somewhere ready to assist him whenever needed.

Even though our conversation was short, If Yosetsu Awase was the first 'friend' I had in this class, Jurota was the classmate I respected the most.


	8. Ch 4: Quirk Apprehension Test 2 of 2

_**Test 3: Control Test**_

* * *

Following my epic performance at the speed test and my hilarious performance at the strength test, Vlad King leads the class to an adjacent field similar to a baseball field but with no walls where the outfield would be. I'm fairly certain this is the far corner of the school grounds since almost everything else was now behind us, the towers of UA themselves almost shrinking into the distance behind medium sized trees.

 **Vlad King** : "The next test will evaluate how much control you have over your quirk and how well you effectively use it. Given how many diverse types of quirks there are, and how much some of you like to whine about everything, I want to say that I acknowledge that no test can 100% sufficiently analyze how well you have control over your quirks. This test will only give me a rough idea of how well each of you do or dont do regarding control, and you will have other opportunities in the future to demonstrate your control if this test doesnt suit your quirk very well... Students who have area-control quirks in particular are difficult to evaluate, which is why Im giving you the opportunity to exempt yourselves from this test if you choose to"

He pauses, then pulls out a ball.

 **Vlad King** : "Should you opt to take the test, you will use your quirk to try to throw this baseball as far as you can. You may NOT getting a running start before throwing the ball, you may not use your quirk more than once before throwing the ball. Again, this is just to give me a rough idea of how much control you have over your quirks, this is by no means a perfect analyzation... Please take a step backwards if you do not wish to take this test"

Almost the entire class except for 6 people takes a step back, leaving me, Ibara Shiozaki, Jurota Shishida, Monoma, Kendo, and Sen Kaibara. Kendo uses her big hand quirk to launch the ball almost a mile, Monoma copies her quirk to do the same thing, Jurota goes into beast mode to use brute strength to hurl the ball far away, while Ibara uses her vine quirk to move the ball almost 60 feet downfield before one of the vines throws it even farther.

 **Vlad King** : "Mazu, you're next"

Even though I was exempt from demotion and was one of the few people who could even take the test to begin with, I still feel nervous. There was one aspect of my quirk that could backfire quite horrendously if I didn't do things just right, and throwing something through my portals is exactly when that starts to happen.

 _If I'm going to pull this off, I'm going to have to do things almost perfectly._

I point with my left hand and make a portal as far up and away as I can, about 20 yards away and 20 yards up in the air. I point with my right hand to right in front of me an open up another portal a few steps in front of me. The portal itself is about 3 feet in height and 2 and a half feet in width, which can still be a bit of a tight fit when doing precisely what I have to do.

 _If this is going to work, I'll need to have my hand pass through the portal with maximum force, but not collide with the edge of the portal on the downswing when I pull back._

I learned the hard way a long time ago that my portals I could create were not just some gaseous enigma that materializes out of nowhere that can be erased by waving your hand through them. Instead, they're rigid things. Almost like a physical object, and if you hit the sides of the portal when passing through them, this burning sensation that feels like a combination of fire and lightning almost _bites you_ in the area that touches it. It's almost like if you accidentally bump a the frame of a door when walking through it, and getting tasered in response wherever you bumped it. Also the door is only 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

My hand feels sweaty as I hurl the ball at the portal. I have to be close enough to be able to get the ball through the portal, but far enough away to not hit the edges of it on the follow up. The ball goes into the first portal, and I immediately look up at the other portal to spot it on the way out.

The ball is nowhere to be seen.

Both portals collapse after a brief pause, and the ball is nowhere to be seen. It's not in my hand, it's not on the ground anywhere nearby, and it's not anywhere out in the field. A few more moments of confused silence hangs over the air as everyone tries to look for the ball, except for Vlad King, who is looking at the tracker gizmo in his hand used to precisely measure distance.

 **Vlad King** : "Mazu, where is my ball?"  
 **Me** : (under my breath) "Shit"  
 **Yosetsu** : "I don't see it anywhere"  
 **Neito** : "Me neither"  
 **Vlad King** : "Mazu, what did you do?"  
 **Me** : "Hang on, let me try something"

I open up two more portals nearby and stick my hand in, seeing if I can find the ball inside and pull it out. My hand goes in one portal and comes out the other, and then just blindly grabs at air before I pull it back out. The portals close immediately after, and there is no sight of the ball.

 **Me** : "So... Uh... There's a SLIGHT possibility that the ball was accidentally sent into another dimension or something..."  
 **Kendo** : "What?"  
 **Sen Kaibara** : "You can do that?"  
 **Jurota** : "How is that even possible?"

 **Me** : "I think that stuff will only pass through my portals as long as part of me also passes through them... If I just throw something in to the portal without part of me also passing through, then the thing just disappears into... Nothing"  
 **Vlad King** : (After a pause) "So, you, _erased,_ my ball from existence with your quirk..."  
 **Me** : (In the tone of 'yes, totally') "On accident..."

Vlad King rolls his eyes and pulls another ball out of his pocket, then tosses it to Sen Kaibara. "You're turn, don't lose this one"

Sen catches it and casually begins walking towards the throw zone. After hesitating, I walk back towards the class with my eyes down, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

" _Amateur_ "

I almost miss it because it's a whisper, but I look up right as Sen passes by me, and it had to have been him who said it. No one else was nearby and I was the only one who heard it. I look back at Sen as he walks up to the throwing circle before he comes to a stop and looks directly at me.

 _Wait, did he really just say that? To me?_

I still stand and stare in confusion away from the class as Sen takes his position. He stands like a baseball pitcher in the middle of the circle before shifting his gaze to the outfield. He raises his leg and activates his quirk. His leg rotates wildly in a blur, like a drill about to dig a tunnel into the ground, and he stomps into the ground.

His leg comes to a stop, and the rest of his body starts rotating at blazingly fast speed. He looks like a human tornado whipping around incredibly fast before he comes to sudden stop. He launches the ball, and I mean he LAUNCHES the ball dead center down the field and what seemed like a mile into the air. I lose track of the ball as it disappears into the distance, and the rest of the class loses it as well.

Before Vlad can even announce the distance the ball went which beat out everyone else in the class, he starts walking back towards the line. I dont even notice as Im standing still, gaping towards the last area I saw the ball, thinking to myself about how crazy everything that just happened really was. _Do you know how difficult that is to pull off? Not only did he have to plant his foot perfectly into the ground to anchor it and start spinning around on it, he had to release the ball PERFECTLY at the right time and the right angle, and he had to do it while spinning around like a Beyblade where he could barely see anything! If he is just a tenth of a tenth of a second off, then that ball could go the exact opposite direction of where he was aiming, yet he threw it dead center down the field!_

" _Amateur_ "

My naked amazement at the feat in front of me shatters into surprise as once again Sen catches me off guard walking past me. He says it in a whisper where only I can hear it, but now I'm certain he did it on purpose. The first time I might have doubted and thought it was just my imagination, but now I know it was real, and intentional... I cant even think of what to do in response, let alone what to say, so I just make my way back in line. Sen rejoins the middle of the class where he initially was, with just about everyone praising him and congratulating him. I would have started doing the same thing, but I was too rattled by his call out to even think straight. Im still trying to process what happened when Vlad leads us to the final test

* * *

 _ **Test 4: Technique Test**_

* * *

The final test is at the same track that the speed test was held at. We come to a stop almost at the exact same spot as the first time, with Vlad King standing in front of the whole class, with the ball from the control test still in his hand.

"This final test is perhaps the most important test of them all" He begins. "It's also almost the simplest test, yet can be the most difficult... All of you will be able to use your quirks effectively to pass the test, regardless of what type of quirk you have"

He holds up the ball in his hand. "All you have to do is get the ball from me"

I exchange glances with Yosestu, who immediately looks back at me in surprise. Kendo next to him looks equally confused, as does everyone else in the class. Only Jurota and Ken Saibara show little emotion at all, but they had to have been as surprised as the rest of us were and just not showing it.

 **Vlad King** : "You will all get a turn and have one minute to try to get the ball from me. I will not grasp onto the ball tight, I will simply balance the ball on the back of my hand to make it easy to snatch. Those who get the ball the quickest will get the higher score. Simple enough?"

Everyone nods and eagerly starts to get ready.

"There is, one condition" Vlad says, before pulling out a can of red paint and spraying an area next to him. "Anyone who lands in this red box right here automatically loses the challenge. Mazu, you're first"

Without questioning it, I line up at the starting line like in the speed race and look at Vlad. He is not even halfway down the track just standing still, balancing the baseball on the back of his right hand, which is elevated up into the air the way a fancy butler might hold a dish. If I aim it just right. I could pop open a portal right near his hand and stick my own hand through the portal to grab the ball. It would be almost as fast as the speed test results, if not faster.

"Go!"

I point with my left hand to open a portal behind Vlad King, and open another portal right in front of me. I reach through to grab the ball, and then the ass whipping begins.

I almost get my hand on the ball when Vlad, using his free hand, grabs my arm that has passed through the portal, PULLS ME through the portal in one blow, and then SLAMS ME down into the red box right besides him flat on my back. HARD.

"You have landed in the Red Box. You lose"

The sheer quickness of the motion in addition to how hard he slams me down into the ground shocks the entire class. Vlad made it seem like the challenge would be pretty easy, but he never suggested or even implied that he was going to put up a fight. Using me as a ragdoll, Vlad warns the rest of the class that an ass whipping was imminent for everyone in line without even saying anything, and an ass whipping is precisely what everyone got.

Almost.

* * *

Jurota, after slowly making his way towards Vlad King but remaining cautious, once again goes into beast mode and charges at him when he realizes he's running out of time. Vlad King activates his quirk, a blood control quirk that allows him to make anything with it, to basically envelop Jurota into a binding cocoon, and slams him into the box.

"You have landed in the Red Box. You lose"

* * *

Ibara uses her hair vines to approach Vlad at almost every angle. As she gets close, Vlad tosses the ball up into the air, and Ibara's hair vines reactively go for it. Vlad encircles all the vines with his quirk and yanks them. Ibara flies through the air head first and lands on the ground hard, skidding into the area outlined in red

"You have landed in the Red Box. You lose"

* * *

Sen Kaibara activates his quirk to turn both of his hands into high powered drills, intending to simply slice his way through Vlad's quirk to get the ball. He charges and attacks a number of tentacle-like creations that Vlad makes, but the closer he gets to Vlad King the harder it becomes to fight all of them off. Vlad eventually gets one around Sen's leg, and before he can activate his quirk to spin out of it, Vlad drags him into the box.

"You have landed in the Red Box. You lose"

* * *

Kojiro Bondo uses his quirk to fire glue at Vlad King, and he fires as much of it as he can. This fight is one of the few forces Vlad King to move around, and he dodges a majority of the glue with his speed while using his quirk to deflect more of it. Bondo manages to finally get one of Vlad's feet stuck to the ground, but is almost out of time and has to rush him. Vlad activates his quirk once more, and uses it to launch Bondo up into the air where he lands in the box with a giant thud.

"You have landed in the Red Box. You lose"

* * *

Itsuka Kendo uses her quirk to enlarge her fists. She uses one as a battering ram when charging Vlad head on, and the other to swing out at an angle and try to catch Vlad in the side. Vlad uses his quirk to lock around Kendo's wrists which are still normal sized, and quickly maneuvers her into the red box as she struggles to free herself.

"You have landed in the Red Box. You lose"

* * *

Narrator Voice: "Several ass whippings later"

* * *

The last person to go is Kinoko Kimori. Everyone else up to this point has been thoroughly defeated with some fresh scars to show for it. Nobody got slammed as hard as I did, but no one has come close to getting the ball apart from Ibara. Kinoko though, whose quirk I didnt even see up to this point, didnt stand a chance. Everyone already wrote her off, some wondered aloud if she would just forfeit.

She is almost shaking in nervousness as she takes her place at the starting line. Vlad once agains stands less then halfway down the track, with the ball balanced on the back side of his right hand which is raised slightly up into the air. He gives a nod as a signal to begin.

Kinoko hesitates, then slowly walks up to Vlad, very cautiously. Vlad remains perfectly still while the rest of the class watches in silence.

 _Is she about to reveal her quirk?_

Kinoko comes to a stop about 6 feet in front of Vlad, who has still not moved an inch.

"C-can... Can I... Can I have the ball please...?"

Before anyone can even process the fact that she just walked up to the teacher to ask for the ball, Vlad nods and hands the ball to her. Just like that.

 **Neito** : "WAIT WHAT?"  
 **Tetsutetsu** : "WHAT IS THIS, RIGGED?"  
 **Sen Kaibara** : "Was that really all we had to do?"  
 **Kendo** : "I never would have thought to do that"

Kinoko, just as surprised as the rest of us, walks back to the line with the ball in her hand, staring at it. You cant really see her eyes because her bangs are really long and covers them, but from my vantage point as someone who is incredibly short, I could see that she was staring at the ball in amazement, as if she couldnt believe herself that she was holding the ball.

"The number one mistake that you don't ever want to make as a hero" Vlad King begins "Is to mistake someone as a villain when you don't have to... After the first round with Mazu, you all assumed that I was your enemy simply for protecting what was mine. You made the mistake of identifying someones desire to defend themselves as a sign of villainy, rather then try to de-escalate the situation. Hero's should only resort to fighting only after all other avenues of negotiation have been exhausted. Kinoko is the only one here who figured that out"

 **Togaru** : "Does that mean Kinoko is exempt from demotion since she's the only one to pass the test?"

 **Vlad King** : "No one is getting demoted, that was just to a threat to make sure you guys gave your best effort in the tests"

 **Tetsutetsu** : "THIS _IS_ RIGGED!"  
 **Togaru** : "Unbelievable..."  
 **Yui Kodai** : "Why are you guys upset? This benefits you more than anything"  
 **Nirengeki** : "Yeah it was just a ruse"  
 **Jurota** : "An effective one at that"

And with that, the quirk apprehension tests came to an end. Vlad dismisses the class for the day and walks back towards the school, with the class splintering off into different groups of students who start walking back as well.


	9. Ch 5: Suiting Up

A few days had passed and I was starting to get into the hang of things at UA. Being in an actual school after being homeschooled for most of my life was a jarring change to say the least, but a lot of the changes were improvements to me. There was a lot more freedom you had as a student, there were so many more students to get to know and even become friends with, and the teachers also had different styles of teaching rather than one person trying to go over everything. My favorite teachers (besides All Might of course, who taught Foundational Hero Studies) was Cementoss who taught English, and Ectoplasm who taught Math. A lot of other students didn't like those classes because the material in English was quite boring while Ectoplasm as a teacher was quite intimidating and not afraid to push students to their limit to do their best. I liked them though because for me it was easy to pay attention, and when I was confused about something in the material they helped me figure it out quite easily.

"Mazu!"

I snap out of my daydreaming in homeroom and sit up straight. "YES SIR" I almost yell, spooking Kendo sitting in front of me.

 **Vlad King** : "I noticed most of your classmates's costumes will be ready in time for the first hero training exercise. You though haven't ordered one, did you turn in a form with your choices prior to the school year starting?"  
 **Me** : "We ordered hero uniforms?"  
 **Kendo** : "I believe the forms were mailed to our parents to give to us"  
 **Me** : "Oh, well my dad is a super villain locked up in Tartarus and my mom is dead, so I probably didn't get one..."  
 **Kendo** : (visibly concerned)  
 **Vlad King** : "In your case Mazu, they would have been mailed to the government officer in charge of you who would then give it to you. Did you ever receive it?"

(Flashback to me receiving the letter from Shina Komena, her telling me its very important and I should read it right away, leaving, trying to convince a stray cat right outside the building to love me when it clearly didn't want to, then going home to bandage my wounds from its angry clawing while completely forgetting about the letter)

 **Me** : "Oh, I never got that... Yeah, No I would have totally remembered that"

 **Vlad King** : "Well you wont be able to make a custom one and have it delivered in time for the training exercise, so head down to the Support Department and see if they can give you something in the mean time. I'll write you a pass from your next class so that you can take care of it right away"

After class is dismissed I immediately wander around campus trying to find the classroom. While I'm looking for the right room, my mind ping-pongs back and forth all over the place thinking about what my hero outfit should look like. _Should my suit be well armored and make me look like a tank to help me take body shots in fights? Should it be thin and nimble to help maximize my speed and quickness? What color should it be? What patterns should be on it? Am I allowed to have gadgets that go with it? Should it have Wi-Fi? Should I have mine look a little like All Mights or should I go with something completely different?_

There are no answers to any of these questions by the time I reach the support room. It looks slightly different than the regular classes and was located near some rooms with heavy machinery and workshops, so I knock, not knowing what to expect.

The doors fling open and in front of me stands a girl with pink hair wearing very thick goggles over her eyes, a black tanktop, baggy trousers and big boots. She looks left, then right, then back down at me and squeals.

"HAI!" She nearly yells, scaring me slightly "AREN'T YOU THE CUTEST LITTLE THING EVER!"

 **Me** : (Ignoring that last part) "Yes I'm, I was sent here to get an outfit, since I was unaware I had to desig-"  
 **Her** : "WELL COME ON LETS GO!"

Before I can think of anything else, the crazy girl grabs me by the arm, YANKS me inside, and drags me past a big array of contraptions and designs towards the back corner of the workshop, where there is a huge mess of stuff lying in a heap on the ground.

 **Her** : "So are you looking for something big, something tough, something cool, something small, something cute, something that will help you blow up approximately 4 city blocks with ease?"

"Mei take it easy"

I look over to the right from where the voice comes from and see a person I mistook for machinery equipment turn around. Short and very skinny, the guy has no shirt on and has what looks like a piece of a tractor over his head. I can't a good look at him as Mei yanks me towards the back corner of the room.

 **Mei** : "We could probably combine parts from like 5 or 7 or 14 different suits to get something for you. What are your thoughts on a suit that can help you give someone temporary paralysis up three times in one shot?"  
 **Him** : "Mei!"

We both look over at the only other person in the room. "The kid is pretty small, so I doubt anything in that pile would be a good fit for him. Go check in the discard racks in the back to see if you find anything that might fit him"

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!" Mei screams, as she darts through a door to the back room in a flash. My brain manages to recalibrate from the temporary deafness just in time to hear the man's questions.

 **Power Loader:** "What's your name kid?"  
 **Me** : "Mazu... What's yours?"  
 **Power Loader:** "Just call me professor"

 _Oh shit, he's a teacher?..._ "Y-Yes sir"

The teacher sets down the tool he's fidgeting with and casually walks over to me. I straighten up a little bit as he comes to a stop and seizes me up. Underneath the thing on his head I can see he has bluish eyes, orange hair thats kind of long, and a bit of a large mouth. What jumps out at me the most are the size of his hands, which are substantially larger than what they should have been for a man of his size.

 **Power Loader:** "What are you here for?"  
 **Me** : "I, am here because, I need a suit since I didn't order a custom one before the year started"  
 **Power Loader:** "A suit? What class are you in?"  
 **Me** : "Class 1-B sir. Professor Vlad King's class:  
 **Power Loader** : "Class 1B?... The hero course?"

I nod before he turns around and returns to his work station.

"Whatever Mei finds in the back for you, I doubt that it will be anything close to what you had in mind for your actual suit, but you'll be able to order a custom one by the time you'll have to use it again."

 **Me** : "Oh that's fine. As long as it's something that doesn't make me look like a villain"  
 **Power Loader:** "Why would _that_ be your number one concern?"

 _Oh..._

 **Me** : "Oh, umm, because... Uh... I guess, it's just important to me"  
 **Power Loader:** "A suit should be designed to enhance your quirk, your abilities, or protect you in a fight. Your priority shouldn't be to look like a hero"  
 **Me** : "Yeah, you're right, it's just... Well..."

 _Don't tell him, just don't._  
 _He's a teacher, it's fine._  
 _You don't have to, he doesn't need to know._  
 _There isn't anyone else in here right now, it's fine._

 **Me** : (out loud) "Well he is the teacher..."  
 **Power Loader** : "Excuse me?"

I look up at him and realize my slip up. "It's, it's mostly because of my name... My name is Mazu, Risuto..."

He stops fidgeting with one of the tools in front of him and faces me. Even sitting down on a heightened chair at a workbench he is still a full foot taller than me. He glares over at me more out of surprise than anger. "You're the Risuto student?"

I nod and don't say a word.

A moment of silence, punctuated only by some distant banging of Mei tearing up the backroom, occupies the room as Power Loader just stares at me. These kind of encounters, of first realizations, happen so many times yet each one feels nerve-racking and suspenseful. I could never tell anymore what kind of reaction I get from people, especially now that I'm not just a kid anymore.

 **Power Loader** : "Well holy shit kid, congrats on getting into the hero course!"

Of all the reactions that I've received over the years, THAT ONE would be the one I remember the most. Between the majority of people who immediately view me with suspicion, and the few who act like nothing is wrong and try to remain calm when they are clearly alarmed, his reaction is the one that was both the most surprising and the most reassuring. I briefly forget he's even a teacher just because of how thrown off I am.

 **Me** : "... Really?"

He turns back to his gizmo but continues talking, this time in a much more jovial fashion. "You would not believe the stories I've heard about students getting into the hero course here or at other prestigious schools and jobs just because they are related to some famous respected hero. They get in because they're a legacy child, expect everything to be super easy, begin flunking almost immediately, don't put nearly enough time and effort in, and flake out immediately. I've seen it myself as a teacher, and I growing up I met a few of those kind of people myself... For YOU to get into UA though, based on your lineage? You must have impressed a lot of very important people to pull that off. Congratulations on that."

I take a deep sigh and relax a little. A bit. Okay a lot. "Thanks so much!"

"Just make sure you do your absolute best here. Class 1-B is more prone to changes since a lot of students in the General Studies courses are put into that class when they are considered good enough. If there are enough good candidates in the General Studies courses in a certain year, even one medium-sized mistake could be enough to get you swapped out with someone else, and it's close to impossible to get back in to the hero course once you're out."

Mei bursts back into the room before I can reply, nearly taking the door off of its hinges from force. "CHECK THIS OUT!"

She holds out in front of her an old prototype of a suit that had to be at least 5 years old. The entire thing was a medium shade of purple, with green padding around the knees, elbows, neckline, and ankles.

 **Power Loader** : "Mei, isn't that a girl suit?"  
 **Mei** : "Yep, totally"  
 **Me** : "Umm..."  
 **Power Loader** : "Was there nothing else back there that would be better suited for him?"  
 **Mei** : "What's wrong with light purple?"  
 **Power Loader** : "It's not the color that is the issue, it's who it was intended to be made for"  
 **Mei** : "So what if it was made for a girl? A boy can wear a girl suit, what's wrong with that?"  
 **Power Loader** : "Well it's not exactly helpful. A hero suit is meant to be an extension of a persons priorities and abilities, guys and girls tend to have different preferences. Plus you and I both know how the hero suit industry still is trying to kick some of its bad habits when it comes to clothing design choices for different genders... Check the pockets on that suit, I guarantee that they won't be big enough to hold spare change"  
 **Mei** : "What does that have to do with anything?"  
 **Power Loader** : "A suit could mean life or death depending on the hero's quirk and the situation they find themselves in. Any flaw or design malfunction could be catastrophic if not lethal, no matter how inconvenient or innocent it might seem on the surface like gender. The Hero Course students also have their first training exercises coming up soon, so he needs something that at least won't hold him back"

 **Mei** : "What do you think?"

Mei kind of mushes the suit at my face before I grab it with my own hands and examine it. It was covered in dust and had seen better days, and clearly was meant to fit a girl, but it was my size and the padding was a nice plus. ' _There's enough of it around the joints that it could help me avoid some serious injuries'._

 **Me:** "This could work"  
 **Mei** : "Of course it could! Try it on!"  
 **Me** : "... Right here you mean?"  
 **Mei** : "I don't mind"  
 **Power Loader** : "For the love of-, Mei have him change in the back rooms so he can have some privacy"  
 **Me** : "That sounds like a better idea, yeah"

I take the suit and go through the door into the back room. The hallway takes a sharp left after entering and leads to stacks of materials and inventions on racks that stretch as far as the eye can see. I resist my urge to go poking around and start changing into the suit.

The first thing I notice is that it's made out of some kind of silk. It feels nice, nice and cool but not freezing to wear. As I start putting it on though I realize that the whole suit is actually a onesie, and that the inside is slightly more padded, so it fits pretty tight despite being as small as I already am. It especially squeezed around the legs from the thighs down, and they cut off a bit above where my ankles are so the pads don't really align with what they're meant to protect. There was an old logo on the front right in the middle of the chest, but it has since been removed and I can't really make out what it once was.

I almost finish putting on the suit when an accessory falls out. It's an eye mask made out of just cloth that you tie behind your head. I put it on and the eye holes don't quite line up with my eyes, but I could probably fix that real quick or just not wear the mask at all.

 _Alright let's see how this goes._

After putting on the eye mask I open the door and step out, Power Loader and Mei immediately look over, and Mei lets out some sort of noise that was somewhere in between a howl, a screech, and a Scandinavian battle cry. She nearly trips over herself sprinting at me to examine me up close, while Power Loader just watches while still at his desk.

 **Mei** : (at a million miles an hour) "It actually looks like it fits you well! Some of the padding doesn't quite match up with your joints but we could lengthen the suit in a jiffy, or would you prefer to extend the pads themselves? The pads are made out of some stiff artificial plastic, we could probably throw together some metal or alloy pads to replace them if you want, don't worry they wont compromise your mobility, whoa weird the legs on those don't fit you as well as the top half does-"

As she goes off thinking out loud, I only hear dolphin noises when she says anything. Her hands are yanking at almost every part of the suit in a blaze of speed, I focus all of my energy on standing perfectly still so that I don't get twisted into a pretzel knot or invent a new yoga pose by accident. It's only when Power Loader speaks up do I snap out of my trance.

 **Power Loader** : "What do you think Mazu?"  
 **Mei** : "It looks so good!"  
 **Power Loader** : "I'm asking him"

After careful consideration of determining the odds of whether or not I am going to be excessively concerned about getting rid of wedgies while wearing the suit during the training simulation, I render my verdict.

 **Me** : "Well the padding on the joints and inside are a nice touch, and the color isn't terrible, it should work ou-"  
 **Mei** : "SEE HE LIKES IT!" I can barely get the words out of my mouth.  
 **Power Loader** : "If you're okay with it then thats what counts. You can always come back and design something from scratch later"  
 **Mei** : "THANKS SO MUCH FOR COMING LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ANYTHING ILL BE HAPPY TO-"

"MEI!" He cuts Mei off as she is almost done shoving me out the door while still wearing the suit. "Let him change back into his regular clothes, don't just shove him out the door"

"You're right, sorry sir, he just looks so great" She proceeds on shoving me towards the backroom with the same amount of overwhelming force she used to almost oust me from the room in the first place. A black trail from the bottom of my shoes streak across the floor as I try to resist being plastered into the wall. As nuts as this whole experience is, I at least get my hero suit out of the whole ordeal.

 _I wonder what our first hero training exercise will be like._


	10. Ch 6: Shihai Kuroiro

As an orphan with no family or friends I could stay with while attending U.A., I was put in a hotel as my living space a bit of a ways away from the campus. It's a decent sized facility with about 180 or so rooms, but I rarely bump into or see anyone else staying there. My room is located in one of the far corners of the hotel, right next to a stairwell not used by most guests that only requires a room card to pass through. It is a nice little place with rooms that are fairly small, but of course one day there is a power fluctuation issue that causes all three of my alarms to fail on the day that I was most looking forward to, our first class training exercise! I flail and struggle to put on the outfit I got from the Support Department, bashing my elbows and toes into every corner of the room in a panic as I try to get the thing on, before going as fast as I can towards the class meet-up spot. We were excused from all classes and were taking a bus to some facility off campus for the whole day.

So while the day begins as nothing more then a hot dumpster fire, the late departure and frantic hurry to arrive on time offers a convenient trial to see how the suit does. Overall, it's okay. It pinches a lot when I'm really stretching and opening portals left and right, shaving a little time off of my reaction speeds, while the extra tightness around the legs also slows my movement a bit as I get a bit of resistance around the knees and ankles. Nothing too terrible, but definitely something that needs to be fixed. On the bright side though the suit does keep me only a little bit chilled as I pierce through the air around me, and the pads on the elbows, chest, and most importantly my back do a good job in cushioning mistakes when I mess up.

Naturally though, I am still the last one to arrive with the rest of the class just as the bus pulls up, staging a grand entrance that everyone observes.

 **Me** : (Panting) "Hey-... ugh, (almost dry heaving)... Hey everyone!... (gasping before coughing)... Am I late?"  
 **Togaru** : "Just barely made-, what on Earth are you wearing?"  
 **Me** : "Oh this? This was the-, hold on I don't wanna throw up... Okay. This was the closest thing they had that would work for me in the Support Department"  
 **Togaru** : "Pfft. Why? Was it the only one that fits?"  
 **Me** : "Yeah pretty much. It also has pads though and matches my hair"  
 **Sen Kaibara:** (With a noticeable hint of sarcasm) "Nice"

 _Man, Sen really has mastered the art of only discreetly being a prick._

"I think it looks nice Mazu"

Turning to my left, trying to not get too dizzy from over using my quirk in the rush to get here, is Kendo, smiling and giving me a thumbs up. Before I can think of anything to say, I catch myself looking at her hero costume and am blown away. She looks AMAZING. She's wearing this blue-green sleeveless dress that hugs her pretty tight and cuts off at the knees, with a black corset on over it around the waist, a black eye mask with very large holes for her eyes to see through over her head, and loose fitting black and white boots that go up past her ankles. Just a few changes to her outfit would make it pass as acceptable attire for a very fancy party, while I look something like a purple highlighter trying to cover up back scars and daddy issues.

 **Me** : "Kendo you look so- (almost vomits) amazing!"  
 **Kendo** : "Are, are you okay?"  
 **Me** : "Oh I'm fine. If I use my quirk too much I vomit sometimes..."  
 **Kendo** : "Okay, I'm just just making sure"  
 **Me** : "Oh I wasn't suppressing the urge to vomit because of how you look. No you look great I just, that happens"  
 **Kendo** : (nervous laugh) "I was assuming that's what you meant."  
 **Me** : "Okay, just making sure. (Exhales) I try not to awkwardly almost throw up after complimenting someone for something"  
 **Kendo** : "Its o- how often does that happen?"  
 **Me** : "Only like four times"

 **Vlad King** : "Alright, the bus is here"

The bus pulls up and opens its doors. As one of the last students to arrive, I am one of the last ones in line to get on, and most of the seats are taken by the time I get on, except for one between the two most intimidating students in the class.

On one side was Jurota Shishida. I respect him the most out of everyone else in the class, but his hero suit shocks me. Despite Jurota being one of the smartest and most sophisticated students in the class, he doesnt have a frickin shirt on. Just a pair of pants and some goggles. His chest is ALL HAIR, like some sort of mythical Bearfoot or Sasquatch type of monster. He was already pretty beast-looking to begin with, but I did not anticipate how much he embraces that look with his hero costume. It definitely scares the hell out of me, a 4 foot 3 high schooler that could blend in with 9 year olds in terms of height and intimidation factor.

What really spooks me though is the student on the other side, Shihai Kuroiro. Shihai I recognized right away simply for his white hair and pitch-black skin who was easily one of the tallest people in the class. His hero costume is a pitch black suit that covers his whole body, making only his shoes, white hair, and a writsband the only visible things about him. He looks like a nightmare creation come to life, and his predominantly black eyes feel like he's sucking the soul out of your body if he looks right at you.

There being nowhere else to sit, and too small to grab the handgrips hanging off bars near the top of the ceiling, I nervously sit between Jurota and Shihai, taking exceptional precaution to not make any contact with either of them so that I do not incur their wrath that such incidental contact could cause.

The bus starts up and Vlad gives us instructions.

"Alright here's how this will work. You guys will be paired into teams of two with the goal of trying to defeat one other team you are matched against. One team will be guarding a dummy hostage, the other team will be trying to rescue the hostage. 10 teams of 2 total means 5 matches... There is a catch though. Other classes are using some of the same facilities we are using for their training exercises, so you may run into other people outside of this classroom during our exercise. Do not engage with them or converse with them, keep focused on your objective so that they can stay focused on theirs. Understood?"

Everyone nods, except Shihai sitting next to me, who seems to be wavering and thinking about something else.

"Here are the teams. Itsuka Kendo will be on a hero team. She will be paired with Yosetsu Awase against Sen Kaibara and Kinoko Kimori..."

Kendo and Yosetsu flash smiles and thumbs up at each other, while Sen and Kinoko barely acknowledge one another.

"Kojiro Bondo will be on a villain team. He will be paired up with Reiko Yanagi against Togaru Kamakiri and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu"

"HELL YEAH MAN, LETS DO THIS" Tetsu yells out, as the other three remain stoic.

"Setsuna Tokage will be on a hero team. She will be paired up with Kosei Tsuburaba against Yui Kodai and Neito Monoma"

"Oh you're going doooooooOoOoOoOoOoOoooooon" Kosei taunts to Neito, who snickers. I can't tell if the two are friends and they are just messing with each other, or if Kosei is actually that brazen and Neito is that confident in himself.

"Mazu Risuto will be on a villain team-"

I sigh. "Figures"

"He will be paired with Jurota Shishida against Juzo Honenuki and Ibara Shiozaki"

 _'Oh SHIT'_ I think to myself, while everyone else starts murmuring in excitement.

"Meaning that Hiryu Rin and Pony Tsunotori will be matched up against Nirengeki Shoda and Shihai Kuroiro" Vlad concludes. "Teams will go in the order I announced them, the rest will watch the fight from the video room with myself until all fights are concluded. That is all"

Vlad King takes a seat in the front of the bus, and everyone starts conversing with each other.

 **Yosetsu** : "Jurota and Mazu vs Juzo and Ibara? That's going to be a good fight"  
 **Neito** : "I admit I would like to watch that matchup"  
 **Kendo** : "A strength quirk and a speed quirk vs two area control quirks. A fascinating showdown!"  
 **Sen Kaibara** : "Ibara and Juzo have solid quirks, my money is on them"  
 **Pony Tsunotori** : "Kokoni Irudak Edeshiawase!" (I think she's speaking English or something)

The bus ride drags on and the chatter dies down. I quietly start observing other people's costumes and hero outfits to consider what I should do for my own, before a large weight starts pushing down on top of my head and slightly to the left before coming to a rest. I glance to my right and my eyes widen.

 _Shihai Kuroiro has fallen asleep and passed out on me._

I remain as still as possible as I assess the situation. It's not like Shihai is just a bit woozy and doesn't entirely know what's going on, he is _knocked out cold_ in a deep, heavy sleep. I can feel his full upper body weight leaning down over me, precariously balanced on the top of my head. Apparently my short height while sitting down makes me the perfect sized leaning post for people who are dead tired.

 _Do I wake him up?_  
 _That might piss him off, don't do that._  
 _What about when we're almost there? Someone will have to wake him up eventually._  
 _Let someone else do it then, not me._  
 _What if he gets mad that i DIDN'T wake him up?  
Ask Kendo. She'll know what to do._

I glance over at Kendo, who is looking at stuff on her phone. Everyone else nearby is looking out the window, sleeping, or browsing on their phones and don't notice the situation I'm in.

"Kendo" I whisper, barely audible. "Kendo, help me!"

She glances up and a look of complete confusion immediately sweeps across her face, as if I now had 5 eyes and was wearing a hula skirt and a cowboy hat.

 **Me** : "Help! What do I do?"  
 **Kendo** : "How did-, why is... What-...?"  
 **Setsuna** : "Oh my God"  
 **Kendo** : "Is he completely asleep right now?"  
 **Me** : "Yeah, he is knocked out cold. What do I do?"  
 **Setsuna** : "Hold still, I want to take a picture of this"  
 **Kendo** : "Setsuna..."

 **Togaru** : (Just now noticing) "Wait is he actually asleep?"  
 **Me** : "Sound asleep, yeah"  
 **Togaru** : "Well wake him up"  
 **Me** : "But I don't-, what if he gets mad?"  
 **Setsuna** (Taking 5 pictures)  
 **Togaru** : "Wake him up, don't be a pussy"  
 **Kendo** : "Mind your language"  
 **Me** : "Isn't there a better option?"

 **Jurota** : (right next to me) "Why are you worried about waking him up?"  
 **Me** : "I don't want him to get mad"  
 **Jurota** : "Why would he get upset?"  
 **Me** : "I don't know, I don't know him very well. Maybe he has a temper, or maybe he could really use the rest"  
 **Jurota** : "Hmmmm... He must be excessively tired to just fall over asleep onto someone else..."  
 **Setsuna** : (Now taking selfies of herself with Shihai sleeping on me in the background)  
 **Togaru** : "Ugh. Just wake him up, this is pathetic"

 **Yosetsu** : (Just now noticing) "Yoooooo hold on, I want a pic of this"  
 **Kendo** : "Guys can you not?"  
 **Yosetsu** : (Takes a single picture) "Okay got it"  
 **Setsuna** : (Taking a picture with every available filter from multiple apps, with flash and without flash)  
 **Kinoko** : "He must be really tired to just fall asleep like that"  
 **Jurota** : "That's what I figured"  
 **Togaru** : "Am I really going to have to be the one to wake him up?"  
 **Setsuna** : "No wait, this is amazing!"  
 **Kendo** : "I'll wake him up, its fine"  
 **Yosetsu** : "WAIT... I have an idea, I wanna try something"

Yosetsu Awase leans forward in his chair, everyone else aware of the situation quieting down to pay attention.

"I GET A FRAPPUCCINO WITH TWO SHOTS OF MILK AND SUGAR EVERY MORNING BEFORE CLASS, OTHERWISE I CANT DO ANYTHING"

Shihai Kuroiro, as if on queue, almost bursts out of his nap to shoot an angry retort back at Yosetsu.

"ONLY PEASANTS SPEND $8 EVERY MORNING TO DRINK THAT SUGARED GARBAGE... Upgrade to straight black coffee like the rest of us and become an adult!"

I am in -complete- disbelief. Somehow, the notion that someone would drink overpriced coffee every morning was slanderous enough of a statement to not only bring Shihai out of his sleep coma, but also to elicit a prepared and premeditated response from him before he could take into account his surroundings and current situation. Shihai is so disgusted by Yosetsu's statement that he immediately looks away from him towards the front of the bus, as if visually shunning Yosetsu for his blasphemous taste in coffee, completely unaware that he has been using me as a pillow during his nap. Glancing around at everyone else, they are all just as surprised. Kendo, Setsuna, and Kinoko's mouths are agape in awe that that somehow worked, Togaru, who actively tries to be emotionless as possible, is twitching between facial expressions as if his brain is short circuiting... Only Yosetsu and Jurota remain calm, although Jurota's eyebrows have almost seceded from his face into the rest of his hairline from how impressive and unorthodox Yosetsu's solution is.

No one mentions to Shihai about how he took a nap on me for the remainder of the bus ride. We arrive at the training facility shortly afterwards.


	11. Ch 7: Catastrophe

It is our time to battle before we know it. The previous groups that went before us all end with resounding victories for one of the two teams, to the point that for some of them you could blink and miss the action.

Kinoko Kimori and Sen Kaibara defeat Kendo and Yosetsu Awase when Kinoko uses her mushroom quirk to fill the air with poison gas, immediately incapacitating the two of them before they can even find the dummy hostage. Total time was 1 minute 14 seconds.

Tetsutetsu and Togaru defeat Kojiro Bondo and Reiko Yanagi by making them whiff with their quirks before overpowering them and forcing their way through to the hostages. Togaru has exceptional speed and is able to free himself from Bondo's glue quirk using his blade quirk to free himself. Total time was 3 minutes 44 seconds.

Yui Kodai and Neito Monoma defeat Setsuna Tokage and Kosei Tsuburaba by using Yui's shrinking quirk. They reduce the size of the hostage before hiding it behind a toilet that Setsuna and Kosei were unable to find before the clock ran out. Total time lasted the full 10 minutes.

Jurota and I barely have any time to come up with a plan before our turn is up against Juzo and Ibara. After receiving our earpieces to communicate to each other, we take our positions inside the building and wait for Vlad King to start the trial.

* * *

 **Me** : "Do you have a plan or an idea?"  
 **Jurota** : "Not anything set in stone... My main concern is Ibara's quirk. In close quarters she could easily restrain the both of us if her hair vines get close enough to us, so I think we should have the dummy hostage be in the biggest room possible. That way we have maximum space to work with should they find it"

 **Me** : "I think the top floor has the room with the most space. Floor 10 I think? Or was it 8?..."  
 **Jurota** : "Do you think we should stick together or split up?"  
 **Me** : "... You're asking me?"  
 **Jurota** : "We're a team, what do you think?"  
 **Me** : "Oh... uhh... Well... If I had to think about it... (Long pause)... OH, okay. What about if I lead them on a wild goose chase around the building to distract them? With my portal quirk I could evade them pretty quickly, and if they think I'm running back to the main room for backup, they might follow me and burn up time"

 **Jurota** : "Alright... That's a thought..."  
 **Me** : "..."  
 **Jurota** : "..."  
 **Me** : "..."  
 **Jurota** : "..."  
 **Me** : "Sooo are we doing that, or...?"  
 **Jurota** : "With your plan I worry that if you get caught or cornered, you would be on your own since I would be guarding the dummy hostage on the upper floor. Also there's the chance that they might not follow you and instead just keep searching the rooms"

 **Me** : "Oh okay. So not that then."  
 **Jurota** : "How good are you in combat? In terms of actually throwing punches and hitting things?"  
 **Me** : "On a scale of 1 to 10 where would 'fairly shit' be? Like numerically?..."  
 **Jurota** : "Well you are fast, and even if you only distract one of them that could potentially be enough. I think I could hold my own against one of the other two in a head-to-head in open space, we would just have to delay them long enough until they run out of time."

 **Me** : "That sounds good"  
 **Jurota** : "Alright then. I'll take the dummy and head up, you scope out the lower floors and find a spot."  
 **Me** : "Got it"  
 **Jurota** : "Try to find a location where they will likely find you, but with a number of escape options so you can evade them"  
 **Me** : "Alright! Let's do this! PLUS ULTRA!"  
 **Jurota** : "Huh?"  
 **Me** : "...You know, 'Plus Ultra'!... What All Might yells to encourage others..."  
 **Jurota** : "I know that, I was just caught off guard why you were using it"  
 **Me** : "I... Thought it would get us in the right mindset. For this battle."  
 **Jurota** : "Are you not currently in a battle mindset?"  
 **Me** : "No, I'm-... I am ready, I was just-... You know what, nevermind, It's fine"  
 **Jurota** : "Okay."

* * *

I find a good spot in the fourth floor hallway with many doors and different paths branching out. The stairway leads right to a door that passes through the room Im in, which is the only way to get through to the upper floors. Jurota has positioned the dummy hostage somewhere higher up, so I am alone with my thoughts as i prepare.

 _Alright, so what's the plan?_  
 _Jurota already told you!_  
 _No I mean what should I do when they actually show up?_  
 _Oh... Okay... Well let's think...  
_...  
 _...  
_ _...  
_ _The carpet in this room is really fuckin ugly_  
 _I know right? Anyways, okay I have an idea._  
 _Uh-huh._  
 _If it's both of them, try to intimidate them by just opening a bunch of portals everywhere and make them play defense. It could buy some time for Jurota upstairs._  
 _And if it's just one of them?_  
 _Uhh, I dunno... Wing it._  
 _Well geez, that's a shitty plan._  
 _Okay fine then smart ass, how about pretend to be so scared that they try to chase you since they think you're weak?_  
 _Listen up asshole... Actually that might work._  
 _Wait really?_  
 _Yeah, if they think I'm scared, they may try to pursue me to keep me out of their way. Even if it's just one of them, that makes things easier for Jurota upstairs._  
 _Oh... I guess so actually, yeah._  
 _Okay so Plan A, intimidate them, Plan B, run away and cry so that they chase you._  
 _So basically what we've been doing our whole life?_  
 _Yep._  
 _Okay sounds good._

A few moments after mentally arguing with myself, the door flings open. It's Ibara.

I push the button on my earpiece to contact Jurota. "Hey Jurota, problem, Ibara is at the entrance to the fourth floor"

Jurota responds into the headphone. "Alright, do what you have to do"

I play dumb in order to tempt Ibara to pursue me "Yeah what was the plan? It was Juzo I expected to fight, not her, what do I do?"

Jurota tries to reassure me "Just stay calm, stall her or try to get her to chase you, just like we talked about"

"How am I supposed to fight her, she has these vine things that go everywhere!" I try to sound panicked and scared to really sell it.

"Is your earpiece working properly?" He asks, not understanding my feigned fear.

"It's Mazu, he's on the fourth floor about 20 feet in front of me in front of the exit"

Ibara speaks into her earpiece to Juzo, very calm and determined. She stands casually by the doorway just outside in the hallway, not looking alarmed or concerned at finding me, but leaning towards the door frame as if ready to start running if I attack her. "Mazu Risuto..."

 **Me** : "Ibara Shio-baki? taki? Shiotaki? What's your last name?"  
 **Ibara** : "Names are temporary things that do not define us or our actions. Rather it is where and with whom we put our trust and beliefs into that best define who we are as people and what our contribution to society will be"  
 **Me** : "Shiozaki! Now I remember. Okay. Got it"  
 **Ibara** : "You stand here as my foe, full of sin and lacking in faith. My objective is to rescue those you have imprisoned, but I shall not compromise my ideals and faith over some petty encounter. I shall not strike first unless forced to, and if you strike force I shall retaliate to the fullest of my abilities, which brings us to our current state of affairs"

I click the button on my earpiece. "Hey, I'm doing alright. I'm not sure what's going on right now, she's just kinda talking to me"

 **Jurota** : "Stay focused, be ready"

 **Ibara** : "It is only because I follow the way of the light and the light of the lord that I offer you this one opportunity to spare the both of us of unnecessary anguish and preserve the respect we have within our hearts. Retreat elsewhere and let me pass unharmed, to rescue the soul of those who you have hijacked and restrained. Let me rescue the one you hold hostage, prove yourself worthy of redemption and salvation."

 _Is she trying to guilt-trip me into surrendering based on faith?_

 **Me** : "Umm... With all due respect, it's kind of my job to prevent you from doing that... I'm not going to stand down for the sake of my soul or whatever"

 **Ibara** : "So you reject this offering of a peaceful resolution that pained me to offer you. You slap at this opportunity to resolve our differences and enjoy the glory of purity and righteousness. Why are you so willing to let such a petty situation that in the grand scheme of things is meaningless compromise your morals and your beliefs? Do you not trust that God's plan for the both of us is to be resolved to defeat the true villains and sinners that are out there in the world?"

 **Me** : "I mean... It's not that-, I don't actually believe in-... Let me put it this way, I don't really swing like that, if you know what I mean. That's not my thing. IT'S OKAY that you do, I just, hard pass on my part. You know?"

 **Jurota** : "How's it going down there?"

 **Me** : "Man you will not believe what is going on. Ibara is basically just standing at the doorway trying to appeal to my religious bel- OH FUCK"

A vine from behind me suddenly latches itself onto my right hand that is holding steady behind me. I whip around to see where on earth it came from, and several more are right behind it, quickly approaching. All the vines come from a hole in the ground that looks liquified.

I quickly open a portal with my left hand, pointing behind Ibara in the stairwell hallway. With my right hand I throw open another portal right in front of me and try to pass through. I get 80% of the way through, but the vines around my right wrist tighten and I can't free myself, preventing me from fully passing through the portal.

Struggling to free myself right behind Ibara, I now notice portions of her hair that I couldn't see from inside the hallway meander back down the stairs and out a door into the third floor below. Glancing back up at the hole where the vines came out of, I piece together their plan pretty quickly: Juzo used his quirk to quietly drill through the floor/ceiling behind me, and then Ibara put some vines around the hall through the hole to catch me from behind, monologuing in the mean time to keep me confused and unfocused.

 _Shit, that was a good plan._

Ibara spins around and uses her vines to quickly lock around my left wrist, ankles, and other limbs all while continually restraining my right wrist and arm tighter on the other side of the hallway, still on the opposite side of the portal. I can't even push the button on my earpiece to warn Jurota about their strategy because of how well restrained I am.

 **Ibara** : "Had you accepted my offer of peace, it would not have come to this. I must keep you restrained though for the remainder of the simulation in order to prevent you from interfering with my goals or the will of the Lord. While i sympathize with you and will pray for you in the future, there was no other recourse we could have pursued to resolve-"

As she monologs, the portal closes after several seconds and I fall to the ground. With my right arm free, my only hope of escape is to open another portal and try to free myself by passing through it. I use my left hand to open up a portal down the stairs to the third floor, and raise my right arm to create the exit portal on the ground right below me, thats when I notice it.

My right arm is lying on the floor back down the hallway.

Hitting the ground was not a result of me freeing myself from Ibara's arms and finally passing through the portal completely. Instead, the portal closed while I was still between them, and it severed my arm right below the shoulder!

 **My right arm is lying on the floor back down the hallway!**

Blood starts pouring out as I still process what just happened. It pools on the floor and quickly covers the surface. It also gets on my suit and changes the color of it from the light purple to a dark purple, then black before it cant absorb anymore.

 **Jurota** : "Mazu, are you alright?"

I can't even respond. My mind goes blank as I stare at the stump that occupies the space the rest of my arm used to be. Ibara turns ghost white in pure horror and her vines immediately release me and scurry away, some of them getting blood on them in their hasty retreat. Vlad King's voice comes over the earpiece from the video room the rest of the class is observing things from.

 **Vlad King** : "Mazu! You need to stop the bleeding! Mazu do you understand!"

 _Wait... What..._

I can't even process what has happened as I look up at Ibara, looking for a sign that this is just some really horrible dream. The part of the dream where things get so crazy and nonsensical that my brain figures out its a dream and I wake up. That any moment my actual alarm will go off and the battle simulation hasn't started yet. _For a bad dream it really feels like I'm in pain right now that is slowly getting worse... Wait a minute, can you feel pain in dreams?_

Ibara, breathing rapidly and knees shaking, cant handle the sight of me looking at her after being accidentally maimed right in front of her. She panics and runs away in tears, leaving me there as I still try to process what in the world is happening.

"Mazu! You need to stop the bleeding!"

Vlad King's voice seems foreign to me as the pain really settles in. I could still feel the arm. I could feel the tips of my fingers and my wrist and tried to move it around like they were still there. It feels like they are, but there's only more blood coming out of where they used to be, while my actual hand down the hallway lies motionless, in a little pool of its own blood. Finally a thought creeps into my head.

 _Get the arm._

I stand up to get the arm and immediately get dizzy, the blood loss is already taking a toll. The amount of blood pooling on the tiled floor of the hallway also makes it hard to stand up, and I trip, banging my knee, head, and the one arm I have left. Now the pain kicks in. My head gets that spinning feeling that makes it hard to think or see straight, my knees start giving out and I can barely support my own weight, and more blood just keeps coming out.

 _Get the arm!_

I fail to stand up again, and just start crawling towards me arm. I don't know how to crawl with just one arm though, it looks more like I'm floundering towards the general direction of where my arm is lying. Now panic sets in. _Get the arm! Get the arm! Get back to your arm!_ More blood comes out as I try to scurry towards my arm, but I make no progress. I barely get out of the hallway through the door before my vision starts to fade. There are black edges around my line of sight that appear like a giant hazy ring, and then slowly it start to creep in toward the center. Then rapidly.

A third of the way there, my mind feels like its spinning really fast. I feel tired, exhausted even. I fight the urge to close my eyes even as the jabbing pain in my elbow, knees, and feet intensify as I push myself along the floor, a river of red smeared all over the tiles behind me. Juzo coming up the stairs and calling out my name doesn't even register to me as it all becomes too much. The pain, the vision lost, the exhaustion, the head spinning. Before I even know it, black.

Just black.


End file.
